•'•v 


-BTJR  T>TOK  - 


LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


BANCROFT    LIBRARY 


The 

Mystic  Mid-Region 

The  Deserts  of  the  Southwest 


By 
Arthur  J.  Burdick 


With   54  Illustrations 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and   London 
Cbc  fcnicherbocher  prese 

1904 


• 


COPYRIGHT,  1904 

BY 
ARTHUR  J.  BURDICK 


Published,  April,  1904 


fmicfcerboc&er  press,  flew 


Kingdom  of  solitude,  thou  desert  vast, 
The  keeper  thou  of  secrets  of  the  past, 
For  what,  O  Desert,  was  thy  land  accurs'd  ? 
Thy  rivers  dried,  thy  fields  consumed  by  thirst  ? 
Thy  plains  in  mute  appeal  unfruitful  lie 
Beneath  a  burning,  stern,  relentless  sky 
That  brings  its  showers  of  life-renewing  rain 
Unto  the  mount,  but  ne'er  unto  the  plain. 

What  secret  guardest  thou,  O  Desert  dread  ? 

What  mystery  hidest  of  the  ages  dead  ? 

Doth  some  strange  treasure  lie  within  thy  breast 

That  thou  wouldst  guard  from  man's  most  eager  quest  ? 

Or  doth  there  in  thy  solitude  abide 

Some  mystery  that  Nature  fain  would  hide  ? 

Some  secret  of  the  great  creative  plan 

Too  deep,  too  awful  for  the  mind  of  man  ? 

O  Desert,  with  thy  hot,  consuming  breath, 
Whose  glance  is  torture  and  whose  smile  is  death, 
Realm  of  the  dewless  night  and  cloudless  sun, 
Burn  on  until  thine  awful  watch  be  done. 
Then  may  the  shifting  winds  their  off 'rings  bring — 
The  yielding  clouds  their  life-fraught  dews  to  fling 
Upon  thy  yearning,  panting,  scorching  breast, 
That  with  abundance  thou  at  last  be  bless'd. 

s 

So,  where  thy  wasted  sands  now  barren  lie, 
Green  fields  may  some  day  meet  a  smiling  sky. 
Where  now  but  lurks  grim,  ghastly,  burning  death, 
The  violet  may  shed  its  fragrant  breath. 
It  hath  been  said— a  sure,  divine  decree- 
That  in  the  solitude  shall  gladness  be  ; 
And,  by  that  One  from  whom  all  goodness  flows, 
That  thou  shalt  bloom,  O  Desert,  as  the  rose. 

A.  J.  B. 
iii 


130389 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  — THE  DESERT  .....  i 

II. — THE  LAND  OF  THIRST    ....  17 
III. — CURIOUS  PLANTS   WHICH    LIVE  IN   THE 

DESERT 38 

IV. — STRANGE  DWELLERS  OF  THE  DESERT      .  60 

V.  — HUMANITY  IN  THE  DESERT     ...  68 

VI. — A  FUNERAL  IN  THE  REGION  OF  DEATH  .  80 

VII. — DESERT  BASKET-MAKERS        ...  92 

VIII. — SHIPS  OF  THE  DESERT     ....  107 

IX  — THE  STORY  OF  A  STREAK  OF  YELLOW     .  124 

X  — DESERT  BORAX  MINES    ....  142 

XI  — OTHER  MINERALS  FOUND  IN  THE  DESERT  154 

XII. — A  REMARKABLE  HARVEST-FIELD    .         .  162 

XIII. — DEATH  VALLEY 172 

XIV. — THE  MOUTH  OF  HADES  ....  184 
XV. — DESERT    MISCELLANY  —  UNUSUAL   AND 

PECULIAR  FEATURES.         .         .         .  189 

XVI.— JOURNALISM  BELOW  SEA-LEVEL      .        .  209 

XVII  . — THE  END  OF  THE  DESERT      .         .         .  218 

INDEX    .                  235 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACB 

*  TEAMING  IN  DEATH  VALLEY       :         Frontispiece 

*  THE  DESERT  •.        .        .        .         .        3 

*  MOUNT  SAN  JACINTO  FROM  THE  DESERT    .         .         7 

*  ANCIENT  SEA  BEACH,  COLORADO  DESERT  NEAR 

COACHELLA II 

*  WHEN  CALIFORNIA  WAS  AN  ISLAND    ...       15 

From  an  old  Spanish  map. 

*AN  INDIAN  WELL  IN  THE  DESERT       ...       19 

*  AN  OASIS  IN  THE  COLORADO  DESERT          .         .       23 

*  SENTINEL  PALM          ......       27 

A  welcome  sight  to  the  desert  traveler,  for  it  marks  an 
oasis  hidden  in  the  cafion. 

*  AN  OASIS  DWELLING  THATCHED   WITH    PALM- 

LEAVES  IN  COLORADO  DESERT         .         .         .31 

This  might  pass  for  a  cannibal's  hut  in  the 
South  Sea  Islands. 

*  A  DESERT  BEDROOM 35 

*  SAHUARO,  OR  GIANT  CACTUS     ....  39 

*  SPANISH  BAYONET 43 

*  A  DESERT  CACTUS  IN  BLOSSOM — ONE  OF  MANY 

VARIETIES 47 

*  "  THE  WELL  OF  THE  DESERT  "   .         .        .        .       51 


via  Illustrations 


PAGE 


*  ONE  OF  THE  DESERT  BLOOMERS  ....  55 

*  A  YELLOW  DIAMOND-BACK  RATTLER          .         .  58 
DESERT    LIZARD,    CHUCAWALLA,   CLOSELY    AKIN 

TO  THE  GILA  MONSTER  .....  61 

HORNED  TOAD      .......  62 

TARANTULA .         .  64 

CENTIPEDE 65 

SCORPION      „         .         .         .                  .  66 

*  A  CHEMEHUEVI  INDIAN  AND  CqvoTE  ...  69 

*  A  CHEMEHUEVI  DWELLING  .....  73 

*  A  CHEMEHUEVI  SQUAW  AND  CHILD    ...  77 

*  A  DESERT  DWELLING  ON  THE  COLORADO  RIVER  81 

*  THE  DESERT  "  WHITE  HOUSE  "          .         .         .85 

*  THE  FUNERAL  PYRE  ,  89 

*  A  MOJAVE  INDIAN  POUNDING  MESQUITE    BEANS 

IN  WOODEN  MORTAR 93 

*  RARE  TULARE  AND  POMO  BASKETS     ...  97 

*  A  YUMA  WOMAN  WEAVING  COARSE  BASKETS      .  101 

*  MOJAVE  BASKET-MAKER 105 

*  THE  ADVANCE  AGENT  OF  PROGRESS    .         .         .  109 

*  SHIPS  OF  THE  DESERT 113 

*  BEARING  THE  RED  MAN'S  BURDEN     .         .  117 

*  TAKING  ON  THE  CARGO 121 

*  THE  PROSPECTOR  SETS  FORTH    .         .         .         .125 

*  AN  AGED  PROSPECTOR  AT  MOUTH  OF  HIS  MINE  .  129 


Illustrations  ix 


CAGE 


*  AN  ANXIOUS  MOMENT — LOOKING  FOR  THE  YEL- 

LOW STREAK 133 

*  AN  AERIAL  FERRY — PROSPECTORS  CROSSING  COL- 

ORADO RIVER         .         .  .         .         .     137 

*  A   TRACTION    ENGINE   HAULING    BORAX   FROM 

DEATH  VALLEY      .         .         .         .         .         .     143 

*  THE  PAINTED  DESERT         .....     147 

*  A  MONUMENT  IN  THE  LAND  OF  THIRST       .         .151 

*  A  TYPICAL  DESERT  MINING  TOWN     .         .         .     155 
PLOWING  SALT  IN  COLORADO  DESERT  .         .         .     163 

*  TEAMING  IN  DEATH  VALLEY       ....     173 

*  INDIAN  CHIEF  LYING  IN  STATE  .         .         .     179 
A  DESERT  POTTERY  FACTORY        .         .         .         .191 
BLACK  BUTTES — PHANTOM  SHIP  OF  THE  DESERT  .     197 
DIGGING  THE  IMPERIAL  CANAL     .        .         .         .     203 
IMPERIAL  CHURCH — FIRST  WOODEN  BUILDING  IN 

LOWER  COLORADO  DESERT  ....  207 

YEAR-OLD  WILLOW  TREES  AT  INTERNATIONAL  LINE  2 1 1 

IRRIGATING  DESERT  LAND  .....  219 

DESERT  SORGHUM 223 

MILO  MAIZE  ON  RECLAIMED  DESERT  LAND  NEAR 

HEBER   ........  227 

ADOBE  HOTEL,  CALEXICO,  WHICH  HAS  THE  ONLY 

SHOWER  BATH  IN  THE  DESERT        .         .         .231 

*  From  photographs  reproduced  by  permission  of  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 


THE  MYSTIC  MID-REGION 


CHAPTER  I 

THE    DESERT 

BETWEEN  the  lofty  ranges  of  mountains 
which  mark  the  western  boundary  of  the 
great  Mississippi  Valley  and  the  chain  of  peaks 
known  as  the  Coast  Range,  whose  western 
sunny  slopes  look  out  over  the  waters  of  the 
placid  Pacific,  lies  a  vast  stretch  of  country 
once  known  as  the  "  Great  American  Desert." 
A  few  years  ago,  before  the  railroad  had 
pierced  the  fastness  of  the  great  West,  ex- 
plorers told  of  a  vast  waste  of  country  devoid 
of  water  and  useful  vegetation,  the  depository 
of  fields  of  alkali,  beds  of  niter,  mountains  of 
borax,  and  plains  of  poison-impregnated  sands. 
The  bitter  sage,  the  thorny  cacti,  and  the 
gnarled  mesquite  were  the  tantalizing  species 
of  herbs  said  to  abound  in  the  region,  and  the 
centipede,  the  rattlesnake,  tarantula,  and  Gila 


2  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

monster  represented  the  life  of  this  desolate 
territory. 

More  recently,  as  the  railroads  have  spanned 
the  continent  at  different  points,  we  have 
knowledge  of  several  deserts.  There  are  the 
"  Nevada  Desert,"  the  "  Black  Rock  Desert," 
the  "  Smoke  Creek  Desert,"  the  "Painted 
Desert,"  the  "  Mojave  Desert,"  the  "Colorado 
Desert,"  etc.  ;  the  "Great  American  Desert" 
being  the  name  now  applied  to  that  alkali 
waste  west  of  Salt  Lake  in  Utah.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  however,  these  are  but  local  names 
for  a  great  section  of  arid  country  in  the 
United  States  from  two  hundred  to  five  hun- 
dred miles  wide,  and  seven  hundred  to  eight 
hundred  miles  long,  and  extending  far  down 
into  Mexico,  unbroken  save  for  an  occasional 
oasis  furnished  by  nature,  or  small  areas  made 
habitable  by  irrigation. 

Where  the  old  Union  Pacific  drew  its  sinu- 
ous line  across  the  northern  section  of  the 
desert,  a  trail  of  green  spots  was  left  to  mark 
the  various  watering-stations  for  the  engines. 
The  Southern  Pacific  railroad  left  a  similar  line 
of  oases  down  through  the  Colorado  Desert, 
and  the  Santa  Fe,  in  like  manner,  dotted  with 
green  spots  the  Great  Mojave  Desert.  The 
water  at  these  stations  is  obtained  in  some 


The  Desert  5 

instances  by  drilling  wells,  and  where  it  can 
not  be  obtained  in  this  manner  it  is  hauled  in 
tank  cars  from  other  points. 

A  portion  of  the  desert  lies  below  the  level 
of  the  sea.  Death  Valley,  in  the  Great 
Mojave  Desert,  has  a  depression  of  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  feet  below  sea-level,  while  por- 
tions of  the  Colorado  Desert  lie  from  a  few 
feet  to  four  hundred  feet  below  ocean-level. 
In  the  latter  desert  there  are  3900  square 
miles  below  sea-level,  and  there  are  several 
villages  in  this  desert  which  would  be  many 
feet  submerged  were  the  mountain  wall  be- 
tween sea  and  desert  rent  asunder. 

There  is  a  mystery  about  the  desert  which 
is  both  fascinating  and  repellent.  Its  heat,  its 
dearth  of  water  and  lack  of  vegetation,  its 
seemingly  endless  waste  of  shifting  sands,  the 
air  of  desolation  and  death  which  hovers  over 
it, — all  these  tend  to  warn  one  away,  while 
the  very  mystery  of  the  region,  the  uncer- 
tainty of  what  lies  beyond  the  border  of  fer- 
tility, tempts  one  to  risk  its  terrors  for  the 
sake  of  exploring  its  weird  mysteries. 

Strange  tales  come  out  of  the  desert.  Every 
one  who  has  ventured  into  its  vastness,  and 
who  has  lived  to  return,  has  brought  reports 
of  experiences  and  observations  fraught  with 


6  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

the  deepest  interest,  which  tend  to  awaken 
the  spirit  of  adventure  in  the  listener.  The 
most  famous  of  the  American  deserts  are  the 
Great  Mojave  and  the  Colorado,  the  latter 
lying  partly  in  the  United  States  and  partly 
in  Mexico.  As  trackless  as  the  Sahara,  as 
hot  and  sandy  as  the  Great  Arabian,  they 
contain  mysteries  which  those  deserts  cannot 
boast.  Within  their  borders  are  the  great 
salt  fields  of  Salton  and  of  Death  Valley, 
which  have  no  counterpart  in  the  world  ;  the 
"Volcanoes,"  a  region  abounding  in  cone- 
shaped  mounds  which  vomit  forth  poisonous 
gases,  hot  mud,  and  volcanic  matter,  and  over 
which  region  ever  hang  dense  clouds  of  steam  ; 
the  great  niter  fields  and  borax  plains  of  the 
Mojave,  and  other  equally  strange  exhibitions 
of  nature. 

There  are  other  mysteries  in  the  desert. 
Amid  its  sands  are  gold  and  gems  for  the  for- 
tunate finder,  and  many  are  they  who  have 
lost  their  lives  in  search  of  these  treasures. 
Hovering  over  the  desert,  too,  is  that  phantom, 
that  desert  apparition,  the  mirage,  a  never- 
ceasing  wonder  to  the  fortunate  traveler  who 
wants  not  for  water  and  who  is  in  no  doubt  as 
to  his  way  across  the  dreary  waste,  and  a  never- 
ceasing  torment  and  menace  to  the  thirst- 


The  Desert  9 

tortured  wayfarer  lost  in  the  dread  solitude. 
Imagine  the  mockery  to  the  thirsty  traveler 
of  a  rippling  sheet  of  water,  its  blue  waves 
rolling  ever  in  view  but  receding  as  he  ad- 
vances, leaving  only  the  burning  sands  to  the 
perishing  one !  Is  it  any  wonder  that  men  go 
mad  in  the  desert  ?  And  yet,  locked  in  the 
breast  of  this  waste  is  more  fertility  than  is 
necessary  to  supply  the  continent  with  suste- 
nance. 

The  Colorado  Desert  is  thus  called  because 
the  great  river  of  that  name  carved  it  out  of 
the  sea.  It  is  also  destined  to  lose  the  name 
of  desert  because  of  that  same  river. 

At  one  time  the  Gulf  of  California  extended 
nearly  up  to  ^Banning,  where  rise  those  two 
sentinels  of  the  plain,  Mt.  San  Jacinto  and 
Mt.  Grayback,  each  towering  nearly  two  miles 
above  the  surrounding  country.  This  was 

o 

before  the  Colorado  River  had  cut  its  way 
through  the  mountains  to  the  sea,  forming 
that  magnificent  chasm  known  as  the  Grand 
Cafton.  For  endless  centuries  the  great  river 
has  been  eating  out  the  heart  of  the  continent, 
pulverizing  the  rock  and  earth,  and  bearing  it 
in  its  turbid  tide  down  from  the  mountains 
and  tablelands  to  the  lower  plains  and  to  the 
sea. 


io  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

A  part  of  its  burden  of  silt  was  laid  down 
over  the  northern  portion  of  the  gulf,  and  a 
part  of  it  was  carried  by  the  force  of  the  cur- 
rent far  down  into  the  great  body  of  water  and 
was  piled  up  ninety  miles  below  the  present 
boundary  line  between  Mexico  and  the  United 
States.  This  bank  was  about  sixty  miles  long, 
extending  in  an  easterly  and  westerly  direc- 
tion. Along  the  right  side  of  the  current  was 
formed  a  lateral  embankment,  which  event- 
ually shut  off  the  river  from  its  former  inlet 
into  the  gulf  and  directed  it  to  its  present 
mouth,  some  two  hundred  miles  lower.  This, 
joining  with  the  sixty-mile  embankment,  sev- 
ered one  portion  of  the  gulf  from  the  main 
body  and  left  an  inland  sea  where  now  is  the 
desert.  Then  the  thirsty  sun  drank  up  the 
waters  of  this  sea  and  left  the  land  of  desola- 
tion. How  long  ago  all  this  happened  is  a 
matter  of  conjecture. 

There  are  many  places  on  the  boundaries  of 
the  desert  where  the  ancient  beach-line  may 
be  traced  long  distances.  Here  are  found 
numerous  shells  and  corals.  Many  of  the 
shells  are  unbroken,  and  one  might  almost 
believe,  to  look  upon  them,  that  they  were 
tossed  there  by  the  restless  waves  no  longer 
ago  than  yesterday.  The  varieties  of  shells 


The  Desert  13 

and  of  sea  relics  correspond  very  closely  with 
those  now  abounding  in  the  sea. 

There  are  evidences  that  the  desert  has 
been  dry  land  many  centuries.  Upon  its 
breast  are  found  Indian  pottery  and  imple- 
ments of  a  style  and  pattern  antedating  those 
in  use  at  the  time  the  white  man  reached  this 
country.  Then,  too,  as  far  back  as  the  six- 
teenth century,  when  the  earliest  exploration 
of  that  region  was  made,  the  desert-dwelling 
tribes  seem  to  have  been  thoroughly  estab- 
lished in  the  territory  once  occupied  by  the 
gulf.  It  doubtless  required  centuries,  after 
the  waters  were  cut  off  from  the  region,  to  dry 
up  the  inland  sea  and  make  it  possible  for 
man  to  enter  in  and  occupy  the  territory. 

It  is  the  belief  of  some  scholars  that  the 
land  was  submerged  when  the  first  Spanish 
explorers  reached  the  coast.  In  support  of 
this  theory  they  point  to  certain  maps  which 
show  the  gulf  as  covering  that  region. 

A  map  of  the  early  navigators  recently  in  the 
possession  of  General  Stoneman  of  the  United 
States  Army,  which  was  obtained  by  him  in 
the  City  of  Mexico,  shows  the  Gila  River 
as  entering  the  gulf,  whereas  the  Gila  River 
now  enters  the  Colorado  River  ninety  miles 
north  of  the  present  mouth  of  the  Colorado. 


H  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

A  map  of  California,  published  in  1626  by 
N.  Sanson  d'  Abbeville,  geographer  to  the 
King  of  France,  pictures  the  Gulf  of  California 
as  extending  along  the  entire  eastern  boundary 
of  the  State,  and  connecting  with  the  Pacific 
Ocean  on  the  north.  This  map  was  made 
from  sundry  drawings  and  accounts  furnished 
by  the  early  navigators,  and  is  glaringly  in- 
correct. It  is  certain  that  the  gulf  did  not 
then,  or  at  any  time,  extend  to  the  Pacific. 
The  early  explorers  and  map-makers  con- 
veniently guessed  at  matters  upon  which  they 
could  get  no  information. 


(,K  A 

• 


by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

WHEN  CALIFORNIA  WAS  AN  ISLAND 


tVBRATTp 

' 

^ITY 

IH\L 


CHAPTER    II 

THE   LAND   OF   THIRST 

WHEN  the  "  tenderfoot"  first  strikes  the 
desert  country  he  is  surprised  to  learn 
that  he  is  expected  to  pay  for  the  water  he  uses 
for  himself  and  for  his  beast.  A  little  later  he 
becomes  indignant  upon  finding  himself  un- 
able to  purchase  even  a  small  quantity  of  the 
necessary  fluid  because  of  the  extreme  caution 
of  the  proprietor  of  some  desert  well  where 
he  has  expected  to  replenish  his  stock  of  water. 
It  is  not  an  unusual  happening  for  the 
desert  traveler,  who  has  toiled  hours  over  the 
burning  sands  after  his  supply  of  water  has 
been  used  up,  to  find  the  desert-dweller  un- 
willing to  spare  a  drop  of  his  scanty  supply. 
Not  all  desert  wells  are  dependable,  and  some- 
times the  solitary  dweller  of  the  oasis  finds  his 
supply  exhausted  ;  he  then  has  to  haul  all  the 
water  he  uses  forty  or  fifty  miles  until  such 
time  as  the  winter  rains  come  to  replenish  the 

vein  which  feeds  his  well. 

• 

17 


1 8  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

One  who  has  never  experienced  it  can  gain 
no  idea  of  the  torture  of  thirst  upon  the  desert. 
The  scorching  sun  from  a  cloudless  sky,  with 
never  so  much  as  a  hint  of  haze  to  temper  its 
rays,  seems  fairly  to  drink  the  blood  of  the 
traveler  exposed  to  its  fierceness.  From  the 
sands  rises  a  cloud  of  fine  alkali  dust  which 
penetrates  the  nostrils  and  enters  the  mouth, 
stinging  and  inflaming  the  glands,  and  adding 
to  the  torture  of  thirst.  A  few  hours  of  this 
suffering  without  water  to  alleviate  the  pain  is 
sufficient  to  drive  most  men  mad. 

It  is  this  desert  madness  which  travelers 
most  fear.  If  one  can  keep  a  clear  head  he 
may  possibly  live  and  suffer  and  toil  on  to  a 
place  of  safety,  even  though  bereft  of  water 
many  hours,  but  once  the  desert  madness 
seizes  him  all  hope  is  lost,  for  he  no  longer 
pursues  his  way  methodically,  but  rushes  off 
in  pursuit  of  the  alluring  mirages,  or  chases 
some  dream  of  his  disordered  brain  which  pic- 
tures to  him  green  fields  and  running  brooks, 
ever  just  at  hand. 

Men  tortured  by  thirst  become  desperate. 
A  thirsty  man  knows  no  law  save  that  of 
might.  Men  who  would,  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, scorn  to  do  even  a  questionable 
act,  will,  when  under  the  pressure  of  extreme 


From  photograph  by  C  C.  Pierce  He  Co. 

AN  INDIAN  WELL  IN  THE  DESERT 


<  » 


;ITY 


The  Land  of  Thirst  21 

thirst,  fight  to  the  death  for  a  few  drops  of 
water. 

Not  long  ago  a  respectable  citizen  of  a  little 
California  town  had  occasion  to  cross  the 
desert  at  a  point  where  water-holes  were  few 
and  far  apart.  He  depended  upon  obtaining 
water  at  a  certain  ranch,  established  at  one  of 
the  oases  on  his  route,  and  when  he  arrived 
there  he  and  his  guide  and  burros  were  in  sad 
condition,  having  been  several  hours  without 
water.  He  gave  his  guide  a  five-dollar  gold- 
piece  and  told  him  to  see  the  rancher  and 
purchase  the  water  necessary  to  carry  them 
to  the  next  watering-place.  It  happened  that 
the  rancher's  well  was  in  danger  of  going  dry, 
and  he  declined  the  money,  refusing  to  part 
with  any  water.  Pleadings  were  unavailing, 
and  the  guide  returned  to  his  employer  and 
reported  his  inability  to  make  a  deal.  Then 
the  staid  citizen  arose  in  his  wrath  and,  with  a 
ten-dollar  gold-piece  in  one  hand  and  a  revolver 
in  the  other,  he  sought  the  rancher. 

44  There  is  ten  dollars  for  the  water,  if  you 
will  sell  it,"  he  said;  "and  if  not,  I  will  send 
you  to  Hades  and  take  it,  anyway!  Now  which 
will  it  be?" 

There  was  but  one  reply  to  an  argument  of 
that  kind  ;  the  rancher  sulkily  accepted  the 


22  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

money,  the  brackish  water  was  drawn  from  the 
well,  and  the  journey  was  soon  resumed.  As 
a  result  of  this  transaction,  however,  the 
rancher  was  obliged  to  take  a  forty-mile  jour- 
ney over  the  desert  and  back,  to  replenish  his 
water-supply  from  another  well. 

John  F.  McPherson,  of  Los  Angeles,  man- 
ager of  the  Nevada  Land  Office,  left  Los 
Angeles,  in  August,  1900,  to  traverse  the 
Great  Mojave  Desert,  on  his  way  to  look  over 
the  lands  in  the  Parumph  Valley,  in  Nevada. 
His  experience,  which  was  by  no  means  un- 
common, is  best  related  by  himself. 

"  I  left  Los  Angeles  by  team,"  he  says,  "  for  the  pur- 
pose of  retracing  the  Government  surveys  and  making 
field  notes.  I  had  with  me  two  companions,  one  Samuel 
Baker  and  a  young  man  from  the  East.  We  proceeded 
over  the  foothills  to  Cajon  Pass,  thence  to  Victor,  out  on 
the  desert.  It  was  in  the  burning  days  of  a  fierce,  dry 
summer.  The  earth  was  fervid  and  the  air  quivered 
with  the  intense  heat  of  the  sun  which  poured  its  burn- 
ing rays  from  a  cloudless  sky.  Bad  luck  accompanied 
us  from  the  very  start.  At  Pomona,  thirty  miles  from 
Los  Angeles,  we  lost  a  horse  and  had  to  purchase 
another.  At  Daggett,  out  in  the  desert,  which  place  we 
reached  the  second  day  of  our  desert  travel,  we  found 
the  thermometer  registering  128  degrees  in  the  shade. 
We  passed  through  Daggett  and  made  camp,  ten  miles 
farther  on,  at  dark. 

"  Eighteen  miles  beyond  Daggett  is  Coyote  Holes, 
where  we  expected  to  find  water  to  replenish  the  supply 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

AN  OASIS  IN  THE  COLORADO  DESERT 


The  Land  of  Thirst  25 

with  which  we  left  Daggett  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. We  found  the  well  dry  when  we  reached  there,  and 
the  place  red  with  alkali.  Near  the  well,  two  pieces  of 
two  by  four  scantling  marked  the  grave  of  some  traveler 
who  had  preceded  us  and  who  had  run  short  of  water 
before  reaching  the  Holes.  He  had  arrived  too  far  gone 
to  go  farther,  and  his  companions  had  remained  with 
him  till  the  end  and  had  given  him  a  burial  in  the  sand 
and  set  the  scantlings  to  mark  the  spot.  Those  scant- 
lings proved  our  salvation  a  little  later. 

"By  noon  we  had  consumed  all  but  about  three  gal- 
lons of  our  water -and  we  determined  to  save  this  till  the 
last  extremity,  for  we  had  yet  eighteen  miles  to  go  to  the 
next  watering-place,  Garlic  Springs.  Our  horses  were 
already  in  bad  shape  and  nearly  crazed  for  want  of 
water.  In  their  eagerness  to  reach  it  they  plunged  for- 
ward at  a  pace  that  threatened  soon  to  exhaust  them. 
Our  efforts  to  restrain  them  by  means  of  the  reins  were 
unavailing,  and  we  were  obliged  to  take  off  our  coats 
and  throw  them  over  the  heads  of  the  animals  and  then 
lead  them  by  the  bits  in  this  blinded  condition. 

"  Just  beyond  Coyote  Holes,  on  the  road  to  Garlic 
Springs,  is  a  fearful  sink  known  as  Dry  Lake.  Here  the 
ground  is  shifty  and  treacherous  and  the  wheels  of  the 
wagon  sank  deep  into  the  sand.  Just  as  we  had  reached 
the  farther  side  of  the  lake  the  forward  axle  of  the 
wagon  broke,  letting  the  front  part  of  the  wagon  fall  to 
the  ground.  This  frightened  the  horses  so  that  they 
became  almost  unmanageable.  They  seemed  to  realize 
that  this  delay  meant  possible  death,  and  their  cries 
were  almost  human-like  and  were  indeed  pitiable  to  hear. 

"  By  this  time  the  condition  of  my  companions  and 
myself  was  dire,  and  we  realized  that  time  was  of  the 
greatest  importance.  The  thermometer  registered  130 


26  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

in  the  shade — and  no  available  shade.  To  add  to  our 
misery  and  increase  our  danger  a  terrible  sand  storm 
arose,  blinding,  stinging,  and  almost  smothering  us. 

"  It  was  like  standing  in  front  of  a  blast  furnace,  open- 
ing the  door,  and  catching  at  the  blast.  There  were 
1600  pounds  of  provisions  in  the  wagon  at  the  time,  and 
if  we  abandoned  that  we  were  sure  to  perish  of  starva- 
tion. It  could  not  be  thought  of. 

"We  unhitched  the  horses  and  tied  them  to  the  rear 
of  the  wagon  and  stretched  the  heavy  canvas  which  had 
covered  the  wagon  over  them  to  protect  them  from  the 
sand  storm.  Our  salvation  lay  with  the  horses.  If  they 
became  exhausted  or  broke  loose,  we  knew  that  our 
bones  would  be  left  to  bleach  upon  the  desert  sands  as 
have  the  bones  of  so  many  desert  travelers. 

44  The  young  Easterner  lost  his  courage  and  cried  like 
a  baby.  The  three  gallons  of  water  were  divided  among 
man  and  beast,  and  then  Baker  started  back  to  Coyote 
Holes  to  get  the  two  pieces  of  scantling  with  which  to 
mend  our  broken  wagon.  While  he  was  gone  the  young 
Easterner  and  myself  threw  the  freight  from  the  wagon 
to  make  ready  for  the  work  of  trussing  up  the  rig  when 
Baker  returned  with  the  scantlings. 

"  The  storm  continued  to  increase  and  it  soon  became 
as  dark  as  midnight.  When  it  came  time  for  Baker's 
return  the  storm  was  at  such  a  height  that  we  feared  he 
would  have  perished  in  it  or  that  he  had  lost  his  way. 
Hour  after  hour  passed  and  still  he  did  not  return,  and 
we  lost  hope.  At  about  9  o'clock  in  the  evening,  how- 
ever, he  came  into  camp  with  the  scantlings.  His  mouth 
was  bleeding  from  thirst  and  he  was  nearly  blinded  with 
the  sand,  but  he  had  the  material  with  which  to  repair 
the  wagon,  and  hope  returned  to  all  our  hearts. 

"  With  stout  wires  and  the  timbers  we  soon  had  our 


:rom  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

SENTINEL  PALM 
A  welcome  sight  to  the  desert  traveler,  for  it  marks  an  oasis  hidden  in  the  canon 


The  Land  of  Thirst  29 

wagon  in  shape,  and  the  freight  was  speedily  loaded 
upon  it  and  we  prepared  to  resume  our  journey.  Our 
ill-luck,  however,  was  not  at  an  end,  for  when  we  at- 
tempted to  attach  the  tongue  of  the  wagon  the  king-bolt 
was  not  to  be  found.  It  was  midnight  when  we  had  our 
wagon  repaired  and  loaded,  and  it  was  two  o'clock  be- 
fore we  succeeded  in  pawing  the  king-bolt  out  of  the 
sand  where  it  had  fallen.  Then  we  had  twelve  weary 
miles  to  travel  before  we  could  reach  water.  We  were 
all  in  a  terrible  state  when  we  started,  and  the  wagon  sank 
so  deeply  in  the  sand  that  our  progress  was  fearfully  slow. 
"Twenty-four  hours  without  water  in  the  desert  is  a 
terrible  thing.  Before  we  had  covered  half  the  distance 
to  Garlic  Springs  Baker  went  mad.  He  was  for  aban- 
doning the  party,  and  that  meant,  to  one  in  his  condition, 
certain  death.  There  was  but  one  thing  I  could  think 
of  to  prevent  him,  and  that  I  did.  I  pulled  my  revolver 
and  told  him  if  he  attempted  to  leave  the  party  I  would 
shoot  him.  He  had  enough  sense  or  sanity  to  heed  the 
admonition,  and  he  stayed  with  us.  I  had  to  carry  my 
revolver  in  my  hand,  however,  and  constantly  keep  an 
eye  on  him.  It  was  ten  o'clock  when  we  reached  the 
springs,  and  we  were  all  on  the  verge  of  delirium.  It 
was  several  hours  before  our  swollen  and  parched  throats 
would  admit  more  than  a  very  few  drops  of  water  at  a 
time.  We  bathed  in  the  water,  soaked  towels  in  it  and 
sucked  at  the  ends,  and  by  degrees  fought  away  the 
demon  of  thirst  Baker  spent  five  weeks  in  a  hospital 
after  reaching  civilization,  and  we  all  were  unfitted  for 
hard  work  for  a  long  time." 

It  is  easy  to  gather  tales  of  this  sort  from 
the  towns  bordering  upon  the  deserts.     There 


30  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

are  still  more  disastrous  tales  which  remain 
untold  because  none  survive  to  relate  them. 
Items  similar  to  the  one  herewith  given  are  by 
no  means  rare.  The  subjoined  one  is  an  asso- 
ciated press  dispatch  dated  Imperial,  April  28, 
1903.  It  says  : 

"  Five  human  skeletons  were  found  to-day  at  the  east 
side  of  the  Salton  River,  making  eighteen  found  to  date 
on  the  part  of  the  desert  being  brought  under  irrigation. 
The  presumption  is  that  the  persons  may  have  perished 
from  thirst  as  many  have  done  in  this  region,  which  a 
few  month's  ago  was  utter  barrenness.  Nothing  has  been 
found  to  give  any  clew  to  the  identity  of  these  persons 
whose  bones  may  have  lain  on  the  desert  for  many 
years." 

Down  in  the  Colorado  Desert  is  a  well 
which  is  bringing  its  owner  a  fortune.  Within 
a  radius  of  fifty  or  sixty  miles  are  a  score  or 
more  of  mining  camps  where  no  water  is  to 
be  found.  Prospectors  and  other  travelers, 
also,  frequently  pass  that  way,  and  there  is 
no  other  water  for  many  miles  about.  These 
travelers  and  the  residents  of  the  mining 
camps  are  glad  to  pay  handsomely  for  water 
from  this  well. 

The  proprietor  has  built  tanks  and  loading 
apparatus  for  the  convenience  of  his  patrons, 
and  he  has  established  the  following  schedule 
of  prices  : 


The  Land  of  Thirst  33 

ioo  gallons,  or  less,        25  cents  per  gallon. 
Two-horse  load,  10  cents  per  gallon. 

Four-horse  load,  8  cents  per  gallon. 

The  well  is  a  very  deep  one  and  the  water 
was  obtained  by  drilling.  It  requires  a  power- 
pump  to  raise  the  water  to  the  surface,  and 
the  fuel  to  run  the  boiler  and  engine  has  to 
be  hauled  many  miles  across  the  desert  sands, 
so,  after  all,  the  rates  for  water  are  not  so 
exorbitant  as  they  may  seem  at  first  glance. 

Every  year  the  great  deserts  of  the  West 
claim  scores  of  victims,  the  most  of  whom 
die  of  thirst.  Men  go  out  into  the  arid  plains, 
are  not  again  heard  from,  and  their  fate  re- 
mains, in  many  cases,  a  mystery  to  the  end 
of  time.  Again,  beside  a  bleaching  skeleton 
is  found  a  trinket  or  belonging  which  serves  to 
identify  the  remains.  Sometimes  the  identifi- 
cation comes  long  after  death,  as  in  the  case 
of  a  Los  Angeles  prospector  who  years  ago 
left  that  city  with  a  companion  to  cross  the 
desert. 

The  two  men  lost  their  way,  and  the  pros- 
pector, leaving  his  companion  with  the  burros 
at  the  foot  of  an  eminence,  climbed  to  the 
top  to  take  a  survey  of  the  country  and  try  to 
get  his  bearings.  After  waiting  an  hour  or 
more  for  him  to  return,  his  comrade  began 


34  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

searching  for  him,  and  after  several  hours  of 
vain  seeking  he  resumed  the  journey  alone  and 
eventually  reached  his  destination  in  safety. 
Twenty  years  later  some  prospectors  found 
human  bones  upon  the  desert  and  beside 
them  a  hunting-knife  and  a  watch  which  had 
belonged  to  the  long-lost  prospector.  He 
had  died  within  two  miles  of  good  water. 

Here  and  there  in  the  solitudes  of  these 
great  Saharas  may  be  seen  rude  crosses,  or 
stones  heaped  into  mounds,  to  mark  the  spot 
where,  in  horrible  torture,  some  human  life 
went  out.  And,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  these 
graves  are  more  plentiful  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  oases  than  elsewhere.  To  drink  heavily 
after  several  hours  of  abstinence  is  almost 
certain  death.  Many  a  poor  fellow  has  strug- 
gled on  through  hours  of  extreme  torture, 
buoyed  up  by  the  thoughts  of  the  refreshing 
draught  awaiting  him,  only  to  die  in  agony 
from  drinking  too  deeply  of  the  precious 
potion. 

Sometimes  death  comes  from  a  very  differ- 
ent cause.  Not  long  ago  a  veteran  prospec- 
tor was  taking  a  party  across  the  desert,  and 
saw  in  the  distance  a  green  spot  on  the  plain. 
They  were  headed  for  Timber  Mountain,  where 
good  water  is  plentiful,  but  they  had  run  short 


u 

•J 

fc 
I 


The  Land  of  Thirst  37 

of  water  some  hours  before,  and  were  nearly 
choked  with  thirst.  They  turned  from  their 
course  to  visit  the  green  spot,  believing  that 
water  would  be  found  there.  They  were  not 
mistaken,  for  a  bubbling  spring  greeted  their 
eyes,  a  sight  more  welcome  than  would  have 
been  a  mine  of  gold,  but  about  the  spring 
were  strewn  a  number  of  human  skeletons, 
indicating  that  a  goodly  sized  caravan  had 
met  death  there. 

They  were  too  thirsty  to  pause  to  make 
inquiry  as  to  the  cause  of  this  wholesale  fa- 
tality, and  hurried  on  to  the  spring  to  cool 
their  parched  tongues.  The  leader  of  the 
party,  however,  was  suspicious  and  insisted 
that  no  one  should  take  more  than  a  few 
drops  of  the  water  at  that  time.  His  caution 
proved  their  salvation,  for  within  a  few  minutes 
after  drinking  of  the  water  all  were  taken 
violently  ill.  The  spring  was  a  natural  arsenic 
fountain. 

As  soon  as  the  party  was  able  to  travel  the 
journey  was  resumed  and  Timber  Mountain 
was  reached  in  safety.  The  guide  carried 
away  some  of  the  water  for  analysis  and  thus 
learned  of  the  properties  of  the  spring.  Later, 
he  returned  and  set  up  a  sign  to  inform  travel- 
ers of  the  dangerous  character  of  the  water. 


CHAPTER  III 

CURIOUS  PLANTS  WHICH  LIVE  IN  THE 
DESERT 

IN  the  mystic  mid-region  grows  vegetation  as 
weird  and  wonderful  as  the  region  which 
it  inhabits.  The  Mojave  yucca  (clistoyucca 
arborescens)  is  a  strange  freak  of  vegetation 
found  nowhere  else  in  the  world.  The  palo- 
verde  stands  grim  and  sentinel-like,  along  the 
banks  of  the  Colorado  River  which  skirts  the 
deserts,  an  evergreen  but  leafless  tree  with 
curious  branches  which  cross  and  recross  each 
other,  forming  a  perfect  network  of  green  vege- 
tation. Cacti  in  innumerable  variety  abound 
in  certain  portions  of  the  deserts,  from  the 
tiny  prickly  balls  covered  with  long  gray  hairs 
to  the  giant  sahuaro  which  attains  a  height  of 
fifty  feet.  In  some  places  the  deer-bush  thrives: 
this  plant  is  so  named  because  of  the  resem- 
blance borne  by  its  branches  to  the  horns  of  a 
deer.  There  are  also  sage,  mesquite,  chaparral, 
and  greasewood,  and  numbers  of  other  pe- 
culiar species  of  plants. 

38 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

SAHUARO,  OR  GIANT  CACTUS 


39 


Curious  Desert  Plants  4' 

Cacti  are  the  most  numerous  of  the  species 
of  vegetable  life.  The  several  varieties  all 
have  their  uses  to  those  versed  in  the  lore  of 
the  desert.  In  them  the  Indians,  who  make 
the  desert  their  home,  find  food,  drink,  raiment, 
and  shelter.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the 
cereus  giganteus,  which  is  abundant  in  the  arid 
regions  of  Southern  Arizona,  New  Mexico, 
Texas,  and  Mexico.  This  plant  grows,  in 
many  cases,  to  a  height  of  fifty  feet.  In  some 
sections  it  grows  so  thickly  that  several  hun- 
dred plants  are  found  on  a  single  acre.  The 
plant  consists  of  a  main  trunk  which  rises  to  a 
height  of  from  ten  to  twenty  feet,  and  then 
branches  into  two,  three,  or  several  columns, 
which  grow  upright  several  feet.  The  main 
trunk  and  branches  are  ribbed,  and  these 
ribs  are  thickly  studded  with  clusters  of  heavy 
spines,  which  if  lighted  will  burn  readily,  the 
flame  running  up  the  ribbed  columns,  seeking 
and  burning  all  the  spines  thereon.  This  fact 
has  given  rise  to  the  name  of  "Arizona  candle  " 
which  is  often  applied  to  the  giant  cactus. 

Alternating   with   the    spiny   ribs,   and  just 
beneath  the  epidermis,  are  ligneous  fascicles- 
one  for  each  rib — which  serve  as  a  support  for 
the  soft  tissues  which  constitute  the  bulk  of 
the  plant.     These  fascicles  are  from  twenty  to 


42  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

forty  feet  long,  according  to  the  height  of  the 
plant,  and  are  from  one  to  three  inches  in 
diameter.  They  constitute  the  framework  or 
skeleton  of  the  plant,  and  are  left  standing 
when  the  plant  itself  dies  from  age  or  other 
cause.  This  frame  is  of  great  value  to  the 
desert  Indians  or  to  desert  travelers  who  know 
its  properties.  The  fascicles  make  excellent 
firewood,  and  when  cut  into  required  lengths 
they  are  used  as  pickets  with  which  to  build 
corrals,  and  for  the  roofs  to  the  adobe  huts. 
The  spines  of  the  plant  are  also  used  by  the 
Indians  as  combs.  The  plant  lives  to  be  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  old,as  has  been 
determined  by  counting  the  layers  of  growth. 

The  first  flowers  appear  when  the  plant  has 
attained  a  height  of  eight  or  ten  feet,  and 
they  come  into  bloom  early  in  May  and  con- 
tinue in  blossom  till  near  the  middle  of  June. 
The  blossoms  are  large,  white,  and  waxy. 
The  flowers  are  borne  in  the  axils  of  the 
bunches  of  spines,  often  fifty  or  more  blossoms 
in  the  summit  of  a  single  branch.  It  comes  to 
fruit  in  August,  and  then  it  is  that  the  Indians 
ride  from  plant  to  plant  and  with  long  poles 
detach  the  fruit,  which  is  gathered  and  pre- 
served as  food  or  is  made  into  an  intoxicating 
drink  of  which  they  are  very  fond. 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 


SPANISH  BAYONET 


43 


Curious  Desert  Plants  45 

Another  plant,  a  species  of  yucca,  abundant 
in  the  southern  deserts,  is  the  Spanish  bayonet. 
These  plants  have  a  thick,  palm-like  stem  or 
trunk  with  long,  thick,  spine-pointed  leaves. 
The  flowering  stem  shoots  up  many  feet  in 
height  and  bears  myriads  of  white,  showy, 
panicled  flowers,  lily-like  in  appearance.  As 
many  as  six  thousand  blossoms  have  been 
observed  upon  a  single  plant. 

An  interesting  peculiarity  of  this  plant  is 
that  it  cannot  pollenize  itself,  but  is  obliged  to 
depend  for  its  perpetuity  upon  a  little  moth 
whose  sole  aim  in  life  seems  to  be  to  perform 
the  work  of  pollenizing  this  plant.  This  moth 
does  not  eat  the  honey  or  pollen  of  the  plant, 
but  lays  her  eggs  upon  the  stigma  of  the  flower 
and  then  gathers  the  pollen  of  the  blossom 
and  deposits  it  over  the  eggs,  thus  protecting 
the  eggs  and  pollenizing  the  plant  at  the  same 
time.  The  larvae  hatch  at  the  time  that  the 
flower  goes  into  seed,  and  the  grubs  feast 
upon  the  seeds,  destroying  a  part  of  them,  but 
leaving  enough  to  keep  up  the  supply  of 
plants. 

The  Indians  eat  the  undeveloped  flower- 
shoots  of  this  plant  raw,  the  stalks  are  roasted 
over  hot  stones  and  make  a  very  palatable 
dish  ;  the  fruit,  which  is  cylindrical  and  yellow, 


46  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

ripening  in  August  and  September,  is  eaten 
raw,  and  is  also  dried  for  future  use.  It  is 
pulpy,  sweet,  and  nourishing. 

The  Mojave  yucca  is  a  remarkable  plant, 
which  resembles  in  its  nature  both  the  cactus 
and  the  palm.  It  is  found  nowhere  save  in 
the  Mojave  Desert.  It  attains  a  height  of 
thirty  or  forty  feet,  and  the  trunk,  often  two  or 
three  feet  in  diameter,  supports  half  a  dozen 
irregular  branches,  each  tipped  with  a  cluster 
of  spine-like  leaves.  The  flowers,  which  are 
of  a  dingy  white  color,  come  out  in  March  and 
last  till  May,  giving  off  a  disagreeable  odor. 
The  fruit,  however,  which  is  two  or  three 
inches  long,  is  pulpy  and  agreeable,  resembling 
a  date  in  flavor. 

From  the  base  of  the  plant  radiate  countless 
roots.  These  lie  near  the  surface  and  extend 
a  long  distance,  absorbing  such  moisture  as 
they  find  with  avidity.  One  of  the  peculiari- 
ties of  the  yucca  wood  is  its  ability  to  store 
moisture.  The  fiber  of  the  wood  is  cellular, 
and  it  is  almost  equal  to  a  sponge  in  its  ca- 
pacity for  storing  and  retaining  water.  Fully 
sixty  per  cent,  of  its  weight  is  sap. 

The  trunk  and  branches  of  the  tree  are 
covered,  a  portion  of  the  time,  with  bristling 
reflex  leaves,  which  finally  fall,  showing  that 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

A  DESERT  CACTUS  IN  BLOSSOM-ONE  OF  MANY  VARIETIES 


47 


Curious  Desert  Plants  49 

bark  has  been  added  to  the  tree.  A  sectional 
view  of  this  bark  shows  concentric  rings  such 
as  characterize  exogenous  stems.  As  the  yucca 
is  an  endogen,  this  peculiarity  is  a  remarkable 
one. 

Like  its  cousin,  the  sahuaro,  the  Mojave 
yucca  is  a  friend  to  the  Indians,  who  eat  of  the 
fruit  when  fresh,  and  dry  it  to  be  used  when  it 
is  out  of  season.  They  also  utilize  the  flower- 
buds  and  blossoms  in  preparing  a  stew,  which, 
if  not  tempting  to  the  appetite,  is  at  least 
nourishing,  and  with  them  that  is  the  main 
object  of  food.  The  seeds,  when  dried,  are 
ground  in  rude  mortars  and  used  for  mush 
and  in  making  a  sort  of  bread. 

In  the  middle  and  northern  desert,  where 
the  cacti  are  not  so  plentiful,  there  grows  the 
Allenrolpea  occidentalis,  or  greasewood.  This 
shrub  grows  to  the  height  of  four  or  five  feet, 
and  is  a  leafless,  jointed-branched  plant,  which 
appears  to  be  too  succulent  to  burn  unless 
plucked  and  left  for  days  to  dry.  The  reverse 
is  the  case,  however,  for,  if  lighted,  the  plant 
will  make  an  excellent  fire  when  green,  but  if 
cut  for  a  few  hours  it  becomes  so  watery  that 
nothing  can  induce  it  to  burn.  Though  the 
days  on  the  desert  are  terrifically  hot,  the 
nights  are  apt  to  be  chilly,  and  the  greasewood 


50  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

often   proves  a  most  welcome  friend  to   the 
traveler. 

Another  friend  to  the  desert  wanderer  is  the 
cklorogalumpQmeridianum,  or  soap  plant.  This 
grows  from  two  to  five  feet  high  and  has  a 
bulbous  root  two  or  more  inches  in  thickness 
which  is  an  excellent  substitute  for  soap- 
hence  its  name.  The  leaves  are  from  one  to 
two  and  one  half  feet  in  length,  and  from  an 
inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  in  thickness.  The 
plant  flowers  in  July  and  August,  the  blossoms 
opening  in  the  afternoon  only.  The  bulb  of 
the  plant  lies  deep  in  the  earth  and  has  the 
power  of  storing  moisture,  in  time  of  rain,  for 
the  long,  dry  months  which  follow. 

As  previously  stated,  the  numbers  of  the 
cactus  family  to  be  found  in  various  portions 
of  the  desert  are  almost  innumerable.  In 
a  three-days'  journey  through  the  southern 
desert,  taken  early  in  May,  the  writer  noted 
forty-two  different  varieties  of  cacti  in  blossom. 
These  ranged  from  the  delicate  bloom  of  tiny 
plants  to  the  gorgeous  blossoms  of  the  giant 
species,  thirty,  forty,  and  even  fifty  feet  in 
height. 

It  was  a  most  memorable  trip.  At  no  other 
season  of  the  year  does  the  desert  present  so 
gay  an  appearance  as  in  May  and  early  June. 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

"THE  WELL  OF  THE  DESERT 


Curious  Desert  Plants  53 

Blossoms,  white,  pink,  yellow,  purple,  and  scar- 
let, are  to  be  seen  on  all  sides,  till  one  loses  the 
idea  that  he  is  in  the  desert  and  almost  dreams 
that  he  is  in  some  wonderful  garden.  But 
there  are  no  sparkling  fountains  and  grassy 
lawns  to  complete  the  illusion  ;  only  the  thorny 
shrubs  with  their  vivid  blossoms  and  the  scorch- 
ing sands,  the  dust,  the  thirst,  and  the  cloud- 
less sky  above. 

A  very  common  species  of  cactus  is  the  nopal 
or  prickly-pear,  the  fruit  of  which  is  known  as 
the  tuna,  and  which  is  much  prized  both  by 
Indians  and  by  Mexicans. 

A  welcome  plant  to  the  desert  traveler  is 
the  bisnaga,  or  "  well  of  the  desert."  This  is 
a  cyclindrical-shaped  green  plant  thickly  cov- 
ered with  sharp  spines.  By  cutting  out  the 
center  of  the  plant,  a  bowl  is  formed  which 
quickly  fills  with  water  of  an  excellent  quality, 
affording  a  palatable  drink  to  the  thirsty 
traveler.  Many  a  life  has  been  saved  by  these 
plants,  and  there  have  been  a  number  of  in- 
stances recorded  where  travelers,  ignorant  of 
the  properties  of  the  plant,  have  died  of  thirst 
in  the  midst  of  them. 

Another  cactus  found  in  the  southern  desert 
is  the  grape  cactus,  which  bears  in  clusters 
fruit  resembling  the  tuna.  The  fruit  is  green 


54  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

without  and  purple  within,   is  juicy,  melting, 
and  luscious. 

A  very  common  and  ungainly  plant  is  the 
ocotilla,  growing  clusters  of  straight  poles 
from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  in  height,  which  are 
covered  with  spines.  The  poles  terminate  in 
long  spikes  of  beautiful  scarlet  blossoms. 

The  maguey  or  mescal,  sometimes  misnamed 
the  century  plant,  is  common  along  the  foot- 
hills bordering  the  desert.  It  is  from  this 
plant  that  the  Mexicans  and  Indians  distil  the 
fiercely  intoxicating  drink  known  as  mescal, 
which  contains  a  large  percentage  of  alcohol 
of  a  villainous  quality. 

From  the  cluster  of  spiked  leaves,  which 
attain  a  height  of  four  or  five  feet,  springs 
a  pole  ten  to  twelve  feet  tall,  which  bears  large 
clusters  of  small  yellow  flowers  filled  with  a 
sickishly  sweet  syrup.  The  maguey  furnishes 
the  native  Indian  with  both  food  and  clothing. 
From  the  fibers  of  the  leaves  he  weaves  coarse 
cloth,  and  the  inner  leaves,  when  stripped  and 
cooked  in  the  earth  ovens  by  surrounding 
them  with  stones  heated  on  coals,  are  consid- 
ered a  delicacy. 

Snake-weed  is  the  name  given  a  low-growing 
plant  with  a  pulpy  leaf,  because  when  the  leaves 
are  crushed  and  applied  to  the  wound,  in  case 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

ONE  OF  THE  DESERT  BLOOMERS 


55 


T~\  B  R  A  /T^ 

O-   T    <E 

UNIVc-'SITY 

or 
J*L1 


Curious  Desert  Plants  57 

of  snake-bite,  they  serve  as  an  antidote  to  the 
poison. 

Pectis,  or  creosote  bush,  is  another  desert 
plant,  with  odor  not  unlike  the  essence  of 
lemon.  It  is  prized  by  the  Indians  for  its 
medicinal  properties. 

There  are  a  number  of  other  varieties  of 
plants — mostly  of  the  cactus  family — which 
contribute  to  the  sustenance  of  the  Indians  of 
the  desert,  but  it  is  in  the  fibrous  tissues  of 
the  giant  cactus  and  the  yuccas  that  they 
find  their  material  for  the  weaving  of  gar- 
ments, plaiting  ropes,  and  making  baskets  and 
other  articles  of  use  and  ornament.  Of  late 
years  the  squaws  of  the  several  desert  tribes 
have  found  the  making  of  baskets  and  other 
trinkets  for  sale  to  curio  hunters  a  very  profit- 
able undertaking.  One  squaw  of  the  Mojave 
Indians  received  more  than  three  thousand 
dollars  in  a  single  year  for  work  of  that  sort. 

And  the  desert,  which  flaunts  the  banner  of 
death  in  the  face  of  the  stranger,  hands  out  its 
treasures  to  its  children,  and  they  live  and 
thrive  and  love  it. 

There  is  a  little  flower  found  growing  in 
certain  portions  of  California's  deserts,  which 
fulfills  the  poet's  statement  embodied  in  the 
couplet : 


58  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

"  Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air." 

The  little  yellow  blossom  has,  so  far  as  the 
writer  knows,   no  name  in  the  text-books  on 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

A  YELLOW  DIAMOND-BACK  RATTLER 

botany.  It  is  a  tiny  blossom,  growing  very 
close  to  the  ground,  and  it  opens  only  at  night. 
Then,  whoso  chances  to  pass  through  a  patch 
of  these  flowers  is  treated  to  incense  such  as 
never  exhaled  from  the  most  redolent  orange 
orchard. 


Curious  Desert  Plants  59 

The  perfume  is  given  off  in  vast  quantities, 
and  is  sweet  beyond  the  power  of  language  to 
describe,  yet  it  is  not  the  sickening,  overpower- 
ing perfume  of  some  plants. 

One  does  not  need  to  lift  the  flower  to  the 
face  to  get  the  fragrance, — the  air  is  fairly 
saturated  with  the  sweet  odor.  The  daylight, 
however,  puts  an  end  to  both  blossom  and  per- 
fume. There  is  not  a  sign  of  the  blossom  to 
be  found  when  the  morning  sun  lights  up  the 
desert  plain.  It  is  only  the  night  traveler 
who  is  favored  with  the  sweet  experience  aris- 
ing from  an  acquaintance  with  this  strange 
plant. 


CHAPTER  IV 
STRANGE  DWELLERS  OF  THE  DESERT 

THE  representatives  of  the  animal  kingdom 
in  the  desert  are  fully  as  strange  and 
curious  as  are  the  specimens  of  vegetable  life. 
It  may  seem  strange  that  animal  life  should 
exist  at  all  in  this  region  of  death  and  desola- 
tion, but  several  forms  of  creatures  seem  to 
find  this  dread  region  congenial. 

In  keeping  with  its  surroundings  is  the  cro- 
talus  cerastes,  one  of  the  most  deadly  of  the 
rattlesnake  family.  It  is  known  to  the  fre- 
quenters of  the  desert  region  as  the  "  side- 
winder," because  of  its  alleged  propensity  for 
springing  sidewise  at  the  object  of  its  wrath, 
and  because  it  travels  with  a  sidelong  motion. 
The  bite  of  this  creature  is  considered  to  be 
certain  death,  and  it  is  a  saying  in  the  West, 
when  some  unusually  frightful  catastrophe 
overtakes  one  :  "  It  was  a  regular  sidewinder." 

The  sidewinder  is  of  a  grayish  color,  mottled 
with  dark  blotches.  It  is  found  in  the  very 

60 


Strange  Dwellers  of  the  Desert     61 

heart  of  the  desert,  miles  and  miles  from  any 
known  supply  of  water,  and  it  is  believed  by 
many  to  be  able  to  exist  without  that  fluid. 

Near  the  borders  of  the  desert  the  great  yel- 
low diamond-back  rattler,  crotalus  horridus, 
is  found,  as  well  as  a  species  of  constrictor 


DESERT  LIZARD,  CHUCAWALLA,  CLOSELY  AKIN  TO  THE  QILA  MONSTER 

known  as  the  "  bull  snake."  The  latter  grows 
to  a  length  of  ten  or  twelve  feet  and,  while 
formidable  to  look  upon,  is  perfectly  harmless. 
Such  innocence  is  not  claimed  for  the  Gila 
monster,  heloderina  horridum,  which  is  found 
in  the  southern  portion  of  the  Colorado  Desert. 
This  huge  lizard  is  like  the  chameleon  in  one 
respect :  it  changes  its  color  to  conform  to  its 


62  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

surroundings.  It  is  in  the  main  of  a  yellow 
hue,  with  dark  markings  which  change  to  a 
gray  or  to  a  reddish  tint  according  to  the 
character  of  the  soil  about  its  abiding-place. 
When  it  lies  quietly  upon  the  earth  it  is  very 


HORNED  TOAD 


difficult  to  detect  it  because  of  this  resemblance 
to  the  soil. 

The  Gila  monster  attains  a  length  of  nearly 
two  feet.  It  is  covered  with  horny  protuber- 
ances and  scales  similar  to  the  horned  toad,  so 
called.  When  angry  it  makes  a  hissing  noise 
not  unlike  that  made  by  a  serpent. 

The  horned  toad — which  is  not  a  toad,  but 
the  lizard  phrynosoma  —  is  an  innocent  little 
fellow,  attaining  a  length  of  six  or  eight  inches 
at  the  most.  There  was  a  time  when  his 


Strange  Dwellers  of  the  Desert     63 

reputation  for  evil  was  second  only  to  that  of 
the  Gila  monster.  Now  that  he  is  better 
known  he  has  become  a  plaything  of  children 
and  a  pet  in  many  a  household. 

A  common  creature  in  the  portions  of  the 
desert  in  which  cacti  abound  is  the  cactus  rat, 
a  small  rodent  about  midway  in  size  between 
the  mouse  and  the  ordinary  rat.  He  is  pro- 
vided with  a  bushy  tail  which  he  carries  over 
his  back,  squirrel  fashion.  He  lives  upon  the 
barrel  cactus,  a  plant  so  protected  by  spines 
as  to  seem  unapproachable  by  man  or  animal. 
The  cunning  rat,  however,  has  found  a  way  of 
attacking  this  formidable  vegetable.  He  bur- 
rows in  the  earth  at  the  foot  of  the  plant  and 
comes  at  it  from  beneath.  One  specimen  of 
the  matured  plant  will  keep  a  colony  of  the 
rats  several  months.  They  gnaw  at  its  vitals 
till  nothing  but  the  empty  shell  remains,  then 
they  emigrate  to  some  other  plant  and  there 
set  up  housekeeping  for  another  six  or  eight 
months. 

Living  so  far  from  a  habitable  country,  the 
rat  finds  few  enemies  to  molest  it.  The  rattler 
is  about  the  only  creature  which  preys  upon 
it,  therefore  it  thrives  and  multiplies  in  the 
midst  of  the  fearful  region  it  has  chosen  for 
its  home. 


64  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

It  is  astonishing  to  the  desert  traveler,  after 
he  has  crossed  half  a  hundred  miles  of  parched 
and  barren  territory,  to  find  about  the  spring 
of  an  oasis  tortoises  basking  in  the  sun  or 
swimming  in  the  waters  of  the  desert  well 


TARANTULA 


The  desert  tortoise  differs  from  the  ordinary 
tortoise  in  several  respects.  It  never  exceeds 
in  length  over  fifteen  or  sixteen  inches,  but  in 
form  and  other  characteristics  it  more  nearly 
resembles  the  sea  turtle  than  it  does  the 
tortoise.  This  leads  to  the  belief  that  the 
desert  specimen  is  the  descendant  of  a  sea 


Strange  Dwellers  of  the  Desert     65 

turtle  that  throve  in  the  waters  of  the  gulf 
when  it  extended  over  the  now  desert  country. 
Change  of  conditions  from  sea  to  land — and 
most  forbidding  land  at  that — is  supposed  to 
have  dwarfed  the  original  species  till  a  new 
one  is  the  outcome  of  the  change. 

If  one  familiarizes  himself  with  the  desert, 
he   will   find   that   the   rattler   and   the    Gila 


, 

CENTIPEDE 

monster  are  not  the  only  representatives  of 
the  "  poison  people "  in  that  region.  The 
scorpion,  the  tarantula,  and  the  centipede 
make  their  home  there  and  add  to  the  dan- 
gers and  terrors  of  desert  travel.  There  are 
also  animals  found  here  and  there  in  the 
desert  and  along  its  borders,  which  cannot  be 
classed  as  typical  desert  animals.  Bands  of 
wild  horses  and  wild  burros  are  known  to 
roam  the  formidable  region,  migrating  from 
oasis  to  oasis,  cropping  the  grasses  at  one 


66  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

place  till  they  are  exhausted,  then  moving 
across  the  burning  sands,  guided  by  unerring 
instinct,  to  the  next  green  spot  in  the  desert, 
twenty,  forty,  or  perhaps  fifty  miles  away. 
The  coyote,  too,  finds  his  way  to  nearly  all 
portions  of  the  desert,  and  even  in  the  midst 


SCORPION 


of  the  great  desolate  waste  his  uncanny  cry 
goes  up  in  the  night-time,  making  the  dark- 
ness still  more  lonely  for  the  chance  traveler 
who  pitches  his  tent  in  the  land  of  terror. 

Few  birds  are  seen  in  the  desert  after  one 
has  left  the  border-lands  behind,  but  there  is 
one  inhabitant  of  the  air  which  is  never  absent. 
Hovering  ever  over  the  region  of  death  is  the 
vulture,  ready  to  settle  down  to  his  grewsome 
feast  the  moment  thirst  and  heat  shall  have 


Strange  Dwellers  of  the  Desert     67 

robbed  his  victim  of  life.  One  may  scan  the 
heavens  with  never  a  sight  of  one  of  these  birds 
while  all  goes  well  with  himself  and  his  beast, 
but  let  one  of  his  horses  or  burros  fall  by  the 
way,  and  lo  !  from  the  heavens  descend  num- 
bers of  the  birds,  and,  should  a  traveler  pass 
that  way  a  few  hours  later,  he  would  find  but 
the  whitening  bones  of  the  animal  and  a  few 
fragments  of  the  hide.  And  were  he  to  look 
aloft,  he,  too,  would  discern  not  a  speck  against 
the  blue  canopy  above  him. 


CHAPTER   V 
HUMANITY   IN   THE   DESERT 

WHY  human  beings  should  have  chosen 
such  a  place  as  the  desert  for  their 
habitation  is  a  mystery  without  a  solution. 
Possibly  the  forefathers  of  the  present  dwell- 
ers of  the  region  fled  thither  to  escape  the 
oppression  of  tribes  more  powerful  and  war- 
like than  their  own.  Be  that  as  it  may,  there 
dwell  in  the  Great  Mojave  and  in  the  Colorado 
deserts  several  tribes  of  men  who,  according 
to  their  traditions,  have  made  their  home  there 
many  centuries. 

Up  in  the  Death  Valley  region  is  a  tribe 
known  as  the  Panamint  Indians.  They  live 
in  rude  huts  built  of  sticks  and  mud,  and  they 
subsist  upon  the  most  disgusting  of  foods. 
At  a  certain  season  of  the  year  Owen's  Lake 
and  several  smaller  saline  lakes  in  that  region 
abound  with  a  white  grub  —  the  larva  of  a 
two-winged  fly,  ep hydra  California  —  called 
by  the  Indians  "  Koochabee."  The  Indians 

68 


. 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

A  CHEMEHUEVI  INDIAN  AND  COYOTE 


69 


Humanity  in  the  Desert  71 

visit  the  lakes  at  the  season  of  the  year  when 
the  grub  is  most  plentiful,  and  from  the  shores 
of  the  lakes  they  gather  them  where  the  waves 
throw  them  up  in  windrows  several  inches 
deep.  The  grubs  are  dried  and  are  then  pul- 
verized in  rude  stone  mortars.  The  powder 
is  used  in  making  a  sort  of  bread  which  is 
highly  prized  as  an  article  of  food. 

Snakes  and  lizards  are  also  cooked  and 
eaten  by  the  Panamints,  and  their  vegetable 
diet  consists  chiefly  of  leaves  and  buds  of 
cactus  plants  and  other  wild  herbs.  They  are 
not  agriculturists  and  are  but  indifferent  hunt- 
ers. They  seem  contented  with  their  lot  and 
evince  no  desire  to  leave  the  desert  for  a 
more  habitable  region. 

The  Seri  Indians  are  found  at  the  extreme 
southern  portion  of  the  desert.  At  one  time 
there  were  considerable  numbers  of  them  in 
the  Colorado  Desert,  but  in  1779  the  Mexican 
Government,  then  in  possession  of  the  terri- 
tory, removed  them  to  the  island  of  Tiburon, 
where  the  greater  number  now  live.  A  few 
families  are  to  be  found,  however,  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  "  Volcanoes "  in  the  Colorado 
Desert. 

The  Seri  Indians  are  unreasoning,  treacher- 
ous, and  indolent.  The  women  of  the  tribe 


72  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

command  great  respect  from  the  men,  and  the 
family  relationship  is  always  traced  through 
the  mother.  In  the  language  or  dialect  of 
the  tribe  there  is  no  equivalent  to  the  word 
44 father,"  although  there  is  for  ''mother." 
Little  attention  is  paid  to  the  death  of  a 
male  member  of  the  tribe,  but  when  a  woman 
dies  the  funeral  ceremonies  are  elaborate. 

The  Cocopahs  are  another  banished  tribe, 
now  occupying  the  desert  region  south  of  the 
boundary  line  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico. 

Not  many  years  ago  their  chief  village  was 
a  few  miles  from  Yuma,  which  town  was  their 
trading-post.  Smallpox  broke  out  in  the  In- 
dian village,  but  the  Indians  continued  to  visit 
Yuma  and  soon  carried  the  disease  thither. 
When  the  authorities  learned  the  source  of 
the  infection  they  forbade  the  Indians  to  come 
to  the  town,  and  to  insure  obedience  to  the 
command,  a  mounted  guard  was  placed  about 
the  Indian  village.  Two  Indians  one  day 
eluded  the  guards  and  walked  into  Yuma. 
Then  the  edict  of  banishment  went  forth. 
The  Indians  were  driven  from  their  homes 
and  across  the  border  jnto  Mexico,  and  the 
village  and  all  effects  left  behind  became  food 
for  the  flames. 


I    2 


Humanity  in  the  Desert  75 

The  Cocopahs,  as  a  rule,  are  of  fine  physique, 
hardy,  and  nimble,  but  like  all  desert  tribes 
they  are  unprogressive. 

A  peculiar  burial  custom  prevails  among 
these  Indians.  As  a  rule  they  wear  their  hair 
long — a  custom  with  all  of  the  Western  tribes 
-but  upon  the  death  of  a  relative  it  is  cut. 
If  the  deceased  was  a  distant  relative  the  hair 
is  but  slightly  shortened.  If  a  very  near  rela- 
tive it  is  cut  close  to  the  head.  The  nearness 
of  kinship  is  easily  determined  by  the  length 
of  hair  of  the  mourners. 

A  still  more  curious  custom  prevails  in  con- 
nection with  the  marriage  ceremony.  Before 
a  Cocopah  girl  may  become  a  bride  she  must 
be  buried  over  night  in  the  earth. 

A  hole  is  first  dug  in  the  sand  deep  enough 
to  admit  her  in  a  sitting  posture.  Then  a  fire 
is  built  in  the  pit  and  is  made  to  burn  till  the 
earth  is  thoroughly  warmed.  It  is  then  extin- 
guished, and  the  bride  enters  the  grave  and  is 
buried  to  the  neck  in  the  earth.  Here  she  re- 
mains till  the  morning,  when  she  is  ready  for 
the  marriage  ceremony. 

Occupying  the  region  between  these  dwellers 
of  the  extreme  southern  portion  of  the  desert 
and  the  tribe  first  described  are  the  Mojave 
Indians  and  the  Yumas.  The  Indians  of  these 


76  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

tribes  are  of  good  stature,  but  they  are  dull, 
coarse,  and  unprogressive.  They  live  in  rude 
huts,  curiously  constructed  of  twigs,  stones, 
and  mud.  The  occupation  of  the  men  con- 
sists in  an  occasional  visit  to  the  fertile  coun- 
try in  search  of  game,  or  to  the  mountains 
in  search  of  turquoise,  a  gem  much  prized  by 
nearly  all  the  Indian  tribes.  The  women 
make  baskets  and  toys,  blankets,  and  beaded 
ornaments  to  sell  to  curio  dealers,  whose 
agents  make  frequent  visits  among  them  to 
gather  up  these  articles. 

They  live  upon  fish  taken  from  the  Colorado 
River,  game  taken  in  their  occasional  hunting 
excursions,  and  upon  dishes  prepared  from 
cacti.  A  sort  of  government  is  maintained. 
They  have  their  chiefs  and  medicine  men,  the 
latter  being  second  in  power  and  importance. 
The  medicine  men  practice  the  healing  art, 
depending  more  upon  mysterious  rites  and  in- 
cantations than  upon  herbs  and  medicines  for 
their  cures.  Among  the  Indians  of  the  north- 
ern desert  it  is  the  custom,  as  it  is  with  some 
other  Western  tribes,  to  execute  the  medicine 
man  when  he  shall  have  lost  his  third  patient. 

The  Chemehuevi  Indians  are  also  desert- 
dwellers.  They  depend  chiefly  upon  nature 
to  supply  them  with  food  and  other  necessi- 


^  I 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

A  CHEMEHUEVI  SQUAW  AND  CHILD 


77 


Humanity  in  the  Desert  79 

ties.  The  desert  cactus  furnishes  a  large  pro- 
portion of  their  food.  The  fibers  of  the  plants 
are  woven  into  a  coarse  cloth,  which  gives 
them  clothing,  and  mud  and  sticks  form  the 
material  for  their  houses.  Like  the  other 
desert  tribes,  they  know  of  no  more  desirable 
spot  for  an  abiding-place ;  and  no  greater 
sorrow  could  come  to  them  than  to  be  told 
that  they  were  to  be  transported  to  a  land  of 
"  green  fields  and  running  brooks."  The  desert 
is  their  home.  They  know  its  peculiarities 
and  its  mysteries  ;  it  keeps  them  and  lets  them 
live,  and  they  love  it.  Why  should  they  long 
for  that  which  is  strange,  and  for  which  their 
natures  are  not  adapted  ? 


CHAPTER  VI 

A  FUNERAL  IN  THE  REGION  OF   DEATH 

IN  the  great  weird  wastes  which  make  up  the 
Mojave  Desert,  Death  is  king.  He  sits 
enthroned  in  the  terrible  region  known  as 
Death  Valley,  and  from  that  fiery  pit  he 
stretches  forth  his  fleshless  fingers  over  all  the 
desert  region,  and  exacts  a  fearful  toll  from 
the  desert-dwellers  and  from  those  who  travel 
through  his  domain. 

To  the  Mojave  Indians,  a  visit  from  the 
Great  Destroyer  comes  as  an  event.  In  their 
lives  few  incidents  occur  to  relieve  the  mo- 
notony of  existence  in  that  barren,  isolated, 
and  uneventful  region,  and  the  circumstances 
attending  the  taking  off  of  a  member  of  the 
tribe  are  made  the  most  of.  Even  in  the  case 
of  the  death  of  the  most  humble  member  of 
the  community  the  rites  are  elaborate  and 
prolonged. 

The  traditions  of  the  tribe  do  not  record 
any  funeral  so  memorable  as  was  that  of  the 

80 


A  Funeral  in  the  Region  of  Death    83 

recently  deceased  chief,  Sutuma,  who  had  ruled 
his  people  for  more  than  half -a  century. 

Sutuma  was  of  a  royal  line.  His  father,  his 
father's  father,  and  his  father's  father's  father 
had  ruled  the  tribe  before  him,  even  as  his  son 
is  now  presiding  over  the  affairs  of  his  people. 
Sutuma's  father  was  chief  of  the  Mojaves 
when  Padre  Junipero  Serra,  the  founder  of 
the  California  missions,  came  into  the  desert 
from  the  San  Gabriel  Mission  in  search  of  a 
fabled  city  supposed  to  be  located  in  the  midst 
of  the  great  desert. 

This  city  was  reported  to  be  a  mighty  pile 
of  stately  stone  buildings,  with  walls  and 
towers  and  domes  and  spires  in  profusion. 
Indians  told  the  good  father  of  having  viewed 
the  city  from  a  distance  and,  believing  that  he 
was  about  to  discover  a  civilized  race  of  beings, 
Padre  Junipero  set  but  for  the  desert  on  an 
expedition  of  discovery. 

When  he  had  passed  the  barrier  of  mountains 
at  what  is  now  known  as  Cajon  Pass,  he  looked 
out  upon  the  great  desert  spread  before  him  and 
lo  !  miles  away,  plainly  outlined  against  the 
azure  sky,  was  the  wonderful  city.  It  was,  as 
had  been  described,  a  city  of  walls,  and  spires, 
and  lofty  buildings.  With  exultant  cries  the 
padre  and  his  followers  made  haste  toward  it. 


84  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

When  they  had  traveled  several  hours  the 
city  seemed  no  nearer.  When  darkness  com- 
pelled them  to  pitch  their  tents  for  the  night  it 
appeared  to  be  as  far  away  as  when  they  had 
started  toward  it  in  the  morning.  When  they 
arose  on  the  following  day  and  turned  their 
eyes  toward  the  point  whither  they  had  been 
traveling,  the  city  had  disappeared. 

Disappointed  and  filled  with  alarm,  the 
padre  and  his  men  prepared  to  return  to  San 
Gabriel.  Before  they  had  completed  their  ar- 
rangements for  the  return  journey  the  city 
reappeared.  When  they  had  journeyed  city- 
ward half  a  day,  and  it  seemed  still  as  far  away 
as  ever,  they  met  a  party  of  Indians.  These 
Indians  were  Mojaves,  and  at  their  head  was 
their  chief,  the  father  of  Sutuma. 

By  means  of  the  sign  language  the  Indians 
made  the  padre  understand  that  the  city  was 
a  phantom  and  did  not  really  exist,  and  the 
disappointed  party  turned  back.  It  was  the 
padre's  first  experience  with  the  mirage,  that 
phenomenon  of  refraction  and  reflection  which 
has  lured  so  many  men  to  their  death  in  this 
same  desert. 

The  Mojaves  cremate  their  dead.  When 
Sutuma  passed  away,  his  body  was  arrayed  in 
all  the  splendor  which  his  regal  wardrobe 


A  Funeral  in  the  Region  of  Death    87 

afforded  and  he  was  laid  in  state  under  the 
thatched  roof  of  an  open  approach  to  the 
14  White  House  "  of  the  Mojave  Desert.  Dur- 
ing the  three  days  in  which  the  silent  form  lay 
awaiting  the  final  rites,  it  was  surrounded  by  a 
band  of  mourners  who  uttered  cries  and  lam- 
entations unceasingly. 

Old  Morabico,  the  aged  prophetess  of  the 
tribe,  with  eyes  raised  heavenward,  recounted, 
in  a  chanting  monotone,  the  joys  of  the  Spirit 
Land  whither  the  departed  chief  would  go 
when  the  fires  of  the  funeral  pile  had  freed  the 
captive  spirit.  Braves  of  the  tribe  hid  their 
faces  against  the  supporting  posts  of  the  struc- 
ture and  uttered  doleful  cries  till  exhaustion 
compelled  them  to  give  way  to  other  braves 
who  in  like  manner  wailed  their  grief.  Women 
and  children,  seated  about  the  form  of  their 
late  chief,  added  their  voices  to  the  mournful 
chorus. 

On  the  evening  of  the  third  day,  the  body 
of  the  old  chieftain  was  borne  on  the  shoulders 
of  six  strong  young  braves  to  a  huge  pyre  out 
on  the  plain  some  distance  from  the  village. 
Here  were  found  waiting  the  men,  women, 
and  children  of  the  tribe  and  the  official  chant- 
ers, or  poets-laureate  who  officiate  on  such 
occasions. 


88  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

The  body  was  laid  upon  the  pile  of  fagots, 
and  it  was  then  securely  bound  to  an  upright 
stake  and  the  torch  applied.  Two  of  the 
chanters  took  their  places  at  the  head  and  foot 
of  the  body,  and  the  third  began  running 
about  the  pyre,  chanting  in  a  loud  voice  the 
virtues  of  the  departed. 

The  Indians  are  natural  poets.  The  simple- 
ness  of  diction,  the  imagery  of  thought  and 
directness  of  statement,  render  their  impro- 
vised measures  exceedingly  attractive.  Much 
of  the  charm  of  their  poetry  is  lost  in  the 
translation  and  the  writer  cannot  give,  with 
any  degree  of  accuracy  a  rendition  of  the 
poems  thus  weirdly  chanted  about  the  blazing 
pile.  The  following  will  give  an  idea  of  the 
words  of  the  chanters  : 

11  He  is  dead,  he  is  dead  ! 

It  is  Sutuma  our  chief,  our  beloved. 

He  lived  an  hundred  years  and  did  no  evil. 

He  was  the  son  of  an  hundred  chiefs  and  he  was  wise. 

His  words  were  like  drops  of  water  on  thirsty  ground. 

His  deeds  were  good  and  they  will  live  forever." 

This  poet  continued  to  chant  his  improvised 
epic  as  he  ran  about  the  pyre,  till  he  became 
exhausted,  when  he  exchanged  places  with  one 
of  his  companions  who  took  up  the  strain  and 
went  on  : 


• 


A  Funeral  in  the  Region  of  Death    91 

"  The  sun  is  darkened  because  our  chief  is  gone. 
The  stars  weep  dewdrops  because  he  is  dead. 
The  wind  sings  sorrowfully  because  he  lies  low. 
When  he  was  alive  the  earth  was  very  glad. 
His  household  rejoiced  because  of  his  good  sayings. 
His  braves  were  fearless  because  he  was  strong. 
He  was  great,  he  was  good,  he  was  full  of  wisdom. 
He  is  dead  and  the  earth  groans  with  its  sorrow." 

From  time  to  time  the  chanters  changed 
places,  and  the  poem  of  praise  and  sorrow  con- 
tinued till  the  fire  burned  low  and  died  out. 
Then  the  old  prophetess,  Morabico,  lifted  from 
the  embers  a  handful  of  ashes,  which  she  cast 
upon  the  winds  saying  : 

"  To  the  Glad  Land  waft  thy  spirit.  Be  there  happy 
ever  as  thou  art  entitled  to  be  because  of  thy  goodness 
and  wisdom." 

Then,  in  the  blackness  of  the  night,  lighted 
only  by  the  stars  above,  the  picturesque  band 
journeyed  back  into  the  lonely  desert  village, 
and  the  funeral  was  at  an  end. 


CHAPTER    VII 

DESERT  BASKET-MAKERS 

IN  the  midst  of  a  region  so  repellent  that  a 
*  large  part  of  it  remains  comparatively  un- 
known and  unexplored,  one  art  has  reached  a 
state  of  perfection  unattained  in  civilized  com- 
munities. This  is  the  art  of  basket-making. 

When,  in  1539,  Marcos  de  Niza,  in  his  ex- 
plorations northward  from  Mexico,  entered  the 
great  desert  region,  he  found  peoples  equipped 
with  baskets  of  wonderful  make  and  of  marvel- 
ous fineness,  such  as  the  enlightened  nations  of 
Europe  could  not  produce. 

The  basket-makers  of  that  time  had  all  the 
skill  that  is  known  to  their  descendants  to-day. 
More  than  three  and  one-half  centuries  have 
passed  since  then,  but  it  has  marked  no  im- 
provement in  the  art.  It  was  perfect  then  ;  it 
was  perfect  as  far  back  as  the  traditions  of  that 
early  day  could  trace  it.  It  is  an  art  to  which 
civilization  can  add  nothing ;  on  the  contrary, 
civilization  threatens  it  with  retrogression. 

92 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

A  MOJAVE  INDIAN  POUNDING  MESQUITE  BEANS  IN  WOODEN  MORTAR 


93 


Desert  Basket-Makers  95 

Neither  history  nor  tradition  goes  back  far 
enough  to  determine  when  the  art  of  plaiting 
and  weaving  had  its  birth,  nor  can  we  find 
evidence  of  a  period  when  the  work  of  the 
weaver  has  been  less  perfect.  Progressiveness 
in  those  lines  has  been  at  the  expense  of  the 
quality  of  the  article  produced.  While  the 
Indian  is  weaving  a  single  blanket  the  mod- 
ern loom  will  produce  thousands,  but  never 
has  loom  been  invented  which  could  produce 
a  blanket  equal  in  quality  to  the  hand-made 
blanket  turned  out  by  some  of  the  Indian 
tribes  who  inhabit  the  arid  lands  of  the  West. 

Almost  all  the  basket-weaving  tribes  —  and 
that  includes  nearly  every  tribe  west  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  —  have  legends  pointing  to 
the  antiquity  of  the  art.  The  Porno  Indians 
of  Northern  California  tell  that  when  the  pro- 
genitors of  their  tribe  were  created,  the  Great 
Spirit  furnished  them  with  food  in  conical, 
water-tight  baskets  which  served  them  as  pat- 
terns for  future  work  in  that  line.  The  Nava- 
jos  learned  the  art  by  patterning  after  the 
baby-baskets  in  which  the  infant  gods  of  war 
were  sent  to  them,  and  the  Havasupais  believe 
that  the  daughter  of  the  good  god  Tochopa 
taught  the  art  to  her  daughter,  from  whom  the 
tribe  descended. 


96  The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

The  basket  plays  an  important  part  in  the 
affairs  of  the  desert  Indian.  It  is  his  cradle  in 
infancy  ;  it  is  necessary  in  his  domestic  life, 
baskets  being  used  in  which  to  store  his  grain, 
cook  his  meals,  serve  his  food,  and  carry  his 
burdens.  It  figures  in  religious  ceremonies,  in 
marriage  festivals,  and  in  funeral  rites.  It 
forms  a  part  of  the  decoration  of  his  home, 
and  serves  him  as  a  repository  for  his  precious 
turquoise,  wampum,  and  other  treasures.  His 
water-supply  is  brought  and  stored  in  baskets, 
the  history  and  traditions  of  his  tribe  are 
woven  into  basket  designs,  and  of  late  years, 
since  the  curio  hunter  is  abroad  in  the  land, 
the  basket  has  become  a  very  fertile  source  of 
revenue,  bringing,  in  some  instances,  actual 
wealth. 

Indian  baskets  may  be  divided  into  four 
general  classes  : 

1.  Burden  baskets,  such  as  are  used  for  the 
carrying  of  loads  of  various  kinds.     These  are 
generally   of   coarse   material   and    are    quite 
likely  to   be    the  work  of   old    men  who  are 
incapacitated    for    other   labor,    or    of   young 
members  of  the  tribe  who  are  learning  the  art 
of  basket-weaving. 

2.  Domestic    baskets,   including  the   grana- 
ries, cooking  utensils,  water-bottles,  and  other 


Desert  Basket-Makers  99 

baskets  in  general  use  about  the  house.  In 
this  line  may  be  classed  the  baskets  in  which 
are  cradled  the  infants. 

3.  Jewel  baskets,  which  are  used  for  holding 
articles  of   value   and   trinkets  prized  by   the 
householder,  and  baskets  used  solely  for  orna- 
mental purposes. 

4.  Ceremonial,     embracing    such    as    have 
sacred  significance  and  historical  import,  and 
those  used  at  feasts  and  festivals  and  at  mar- 
riages and  funerals. 

It  may  seem  strange  to  speak  of  using  baskets 
in  which  to  cook  food,  but  this  is  a  common 
practice  with  certain  tribes.  Vegetables  are 
boiled  and  mush  is  cooked  in  baskets,  by  drop- 
ping into  the  basket  with  the  food  stones 
which  have  been  heated  on  live  coals.  Cer- 
tain foods  are  also  cooked  in  shallow  baskets, 
which  have  been  lined  with  clay,  by  placing 
live  coals  beside  the  food,  and  then  skilfully 
twirling  the  basket  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
keep  the  food  and  coals  constantly  changing 
places,  but  at  the  same  time  separate  from 
each  other.  By  occasionally  blowing  into  the 
dish  the  mess  is  kept  free  from  ashes  and  the 
coals  are  kept  glowing. 

The  designs  which  appear  in  Indian  baskets 
are  not  merely  artistic  conceptions  of  the 


ioo          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

weavers,  but  have  significance.  The  sacred 
baskets  are  dedicated  to  certain  purposes  sug- 
gested by  the  designs  woven  in  them.  Thus 
the  cobweb  pattern  in  a  Hopi  basket  signifies 
that  it  is  to  be  used  in  conveying  offerings  to 
the  "  spider  woman,"  as  one  of  the  deities 
or  saints  in  the  Hopi  calendar  is  designated. 
Even  the  seeming  miscalculation  in  the  weav- 
ing of  patterns  is  by  design,  as  in  the  instance 
of  patterns  which  apparently  are  calculated  to 
run  entirely  around  the  basket  but  fail  to  join 
at  the  place  of  meeting.  The  opening  is  pur- 
posely left  that  the  evil  spirits  may  find  a  place 
of  exit  and  pass  out  before  they  have  opportun- 
ity to  work  harm  to  the  possessor  of  the  basket. 
The  colors  in  the  design  have  their  signifi- 
cance. Red  means  triumph  or  success  ;  blue 
signifies  defeat ;  black  represents  death ;  white 
denotes  peace  and  happiness.  Colors  are  also 
used  to  designate  the  points  of  the  compass. 
Yellow  symbolizes  the  north  because,  as  the 
Indians  explain,  the  light  of  the  morning  is 
yellow  in  the  winter  season  when  the  sun  rises 
toward  the  north  instead  of  directly  in  the 
east.  Blue  stands  for  the  west  because  the 
blue  waters  of  the  Pacific  are  in  that  direction. 
Red  is  the  sign  of  the  south,  for  that  is  the 
region  of  summer  and  the  red  sun.  White 


Desert  Basket-Makers  103 

represents  the  east,  for  the  sky  grows  white  in 
the  east  at  the  rising  of  the  sun. 

With  most  tribes  red  is  a  sacred  color.  It 
is  symbolical  of  blood,  which  is  the  life  and 
strength  of  man,  and  is  therefore  the  source 
of  his  success  and  achievement. 

A  variety  of  material  is  used  in  basket-mak- 
ing, and  by  observing  the  kind  of  material 
used  the  expert  collector  is  able  to  determine 
very  closely  the  authorship  of  the  basket,  as 
well  as  to  read  from  the  designs  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  created.  Different  tribes  use 
different  materials,  and,  naturally,  those  found 
nearest  at  hand.  Southern  California  Indians 
make  use  of  tule  and  certain  fine  grasses  found 
in  that  part  of  the  State.  The  Pomos,  who  are 
exceedingly  adept  weavers,  use  a  tough  slough- 
grass,  capable  of  being  split,  and  willow  shoots. 
Havasupais  use  willows  and  certain  fibrous 
plants  found  growing  in  the  strange  cafton 
which  is  their  home.  The  Hopi  Indians  use 
yucca  and  grasses,  while  the  Indians  of  North- 
ern California  make  use  of  spruce  roots  and 
fibrous  barks  found  in  that  locality.  The 
Panamint  Indians  of  Death  Valley  use  year- 
old  willow  shoots,  stalks  of  the  aromatic  sumac, 
fibers  of  the  pods  of  the  unicorn  plant,  and 
roots  of  the  yucca. 


104          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

Color  is  gained  by  various  methods.  Some- 
times the  bright  red,  green,  and  scarlet  plumage 
of  birds  is  used.  Natural  colors  are  much  em- 
ployed. The  brown  designs  are  mostly  made 
by  the  use  of  maiden-hair  fern  stalks.  Black 
is  usually  obtained  by  dyeing  the  material  used 
with  martynia  pods  ;  red  from  yucca  roots  and 
certain  berries  ;  green  from  willow  bark  ;  pink 
and  various  shades  of  red  from  the  juice  of 
the  blackberry,  and  other  colors  and  shades 
from  various  barks  and  fruits. 

Basket-making  has  recently  become  a  fad 
with  white  women,  but  the  dusky  woman  need 
not  fear  the  rivalry  of  her  white  sister.  Civ- 
ilization has  too  many  claims  upon  her,  and 
she  has  too  little  time  and  strength  to  devote 
to  the  work  to  permit  of  her  spending  weeks 
in  searching  mountain,  valley,  and  plain  for 
the  material,  and  toiling  months  in  the  weav- 
ing, of  a  single  basket.  Even  were  she  to  do 
this,  she  could  not  weave  into  it  the  traditions 
of  a  race,  the  faith  of  a  religion,  the  longings 
of  a  soul,  and  the  poetry  of  a  people.  Until 
this  is  possible,  the  Indian  basket  will  stand 
without  a  peer  and  its  maker  without  a  rival. 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

MOJAVE  BASKET-MAKER 


105 


CHAPTER  VIII 
SHIPS  OF  THE  DESERT 

A  N  account  of  the  desert  which  omitted  to 
•  »  make  mention  of  the  burro  would  be 
woefully  incomplete.  The  burro  has  been  one 
of  the  most  important  factors  in  desert  ex- 
ploration and  development.  He  is  far  more 
sagacious  and  enduring  than  the  horse  or 
mule.  He  is  to  the  American  desert  what  the 
camel  is  to  the  deserts  of  the  Eastern  hemi- 
sphere. 

Few  persons  are  aware  that  camels  were 
once  used  upon  the  American  deserts,  but  such 
are  the  facts.  Ten  years  after  the  Pathfinder, 
General  John  C.  Fremont,  crossed  the  desert 
and  traversed  the  Golden  State,  and  four  years 
after  Marshall  had  thrilled  the  world  with  his 
discovery  of  gold  in  Northern  California,  Jef- 
ferson Davis,  Secretary  of  State  under  Presi- 
dent Pierce,  consigned  to  Mr.  L.  P.  Redwine, 
of  Los  Angeles,  a  lot  of  camels,  to  be  used  in 
transporting  supplies  to  Government  posts 

107 


io8          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

located  in  the  arid  regions.  The  camels  were 
delivered  to  Mr.  Redwine,  at  Los  Angeles,  in 
1853,  and  one  of  his  first  assignments  was  the 
transporting  of  a  lot  of  supplies  to  the  troops 
stationed  at  Fort  Mojave  at  the  eastern  con- 
fines of  the  Great  Mojave  Desert. 

Then,  as  now,  a  tribe  of  Indians  dwelt  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  fort,  but,  unlike  the  present 
time,  they  were  hostile  to  whites,  and  unpro- 
tected parties  fared  but  poorly  at  their  hands. 
Redwine  had  completed  the  greater  part  of  his 
journey  to  the  fort  when  his  caravan  wound 
around  the  foot  of  a  clump  of  hills  and  came 
unexpectedly  upon  an  encampment  of  Mojave 
Indians.  It  is  doubtful  which  party  was  the 
more  surprised,  the  Indians  at  the  sight  of 
the  strange  cavalcade,  or  the  whites  at  wit- 
nessing the  frantic  efforts  of  the  redskins  to 
put  space  between  themselves  and  the  ap- 
proaching caravan.  The  sight  of  the  camels 
was  too  much  for  them.  It  was  the  most  com- 
plete rout  in  the  history  of  the  frontier. 

A  little  later,  when  the  caravan  reached  the 
fort,  there  was  another  surprise.  The  horses 
and  mules  corraled  near  the  fort  proved  as 
timid  as  the  Indians,  and  a  general  stampede 
ensued.  The  corral  was  broken  down,  and  it 
took  the  soldiers  several  days  to  gather  in  the 


Ships  of  the  Desert  1 1 1 

scattered  herd.  The  camels  forthwith  became 
objects  of  hatred  to  the  bluecoats. 

As  a  means  of  transportation  the  camels 
were  a  success.  The  heat  and  drought  and 
sands  of  the  desert  were  as  naught  to  them, 
and  they  throve  on  hardships  that  would  have 
proven  fatal  to  horses  or  mules,  but  their  ap- 
proach to  a  military  post  was  a  signal  for  a 
stampede  of  the  stock,  and  the  camels  were 
marked  for  destruction.  Every  now  and  then, 
as  opportunity  offered,  the  soldiers  would  shoot 
down  one  or  more  of  the  camels  till  their 
numbers  were  so  reduced  that  there  were  not 
enough  for  a  caravan.  Then  the  remnant  of 
the  herd  was  turned  loose  in  the  desert,  to  live 
or  die  as  might  happen.  True  to  instinct,  the 
liberated  animals  sought  an  oasis,  and  there 
they  began  to  multiply.  Later,  however,  hunt- 
ers shot  them  for  sport,  and,  so  far  as  is  now 
known,  they  have  become  extinct. 

Redwine,  the  man  who  introduced  the  camels 
to  the  deserts  of  California,  closed  his  earthly 
career  in  the  desert  town  of  Imperial  in  July, 
1902.  Much  of  Mr.  Redwine's  life  was  spent 
in  the  deserts  of  the  great  West,  and  this 
region  of  mystery,  so  terrifying  to  most  men, 
seemed  to  possess  for  him  a  peculiar  charm, 
and  when  the  desert  city  of  Imperial  was 


112 


The  Mystic  Mid-Region 


started  he  left  his  comfortable  home  in  Phoe- 
nix, Arizona,  to  take  part  in  the  founding  of 
this  town. 

When  the  camel  project  came  to  an  end,  the 
burro  came  to  the  front  and  has  since  held  the 
foremost  place  as  a  means  of  desert  transpor- 
tation in  localities  not  reached  by  the  railroads. 

The  burro  is  a  native  of  Spain,  and  he  came 
to  America  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  con- 
quest. He  carried  the  accoutrements  of  Cortez 
through  Mexico  and  into  the  Montezumian 
capital.  He  was  with  De  Soto  when  he  jour- 
neyed into  the  heart  of  the  American  conti- 
nent. De  Balboa  was  indebted  to  him  for  the 
opportunity  to  discover  the  greatest  of  oceans. 
The  padres  who  planted  the  chain  of  missions 
through  Mexico,  and  who  three  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago  reared  the  walls  of  the  mission 
of  San  Xavier  del  Bac,  in  Arizona,  had  the 
assistance  of  the  burro.  The  Franciscan  fa- 
thers, who  more  than  a  century  ago  dotted  the 
coast  of  California  with  another  chain  of  mis- 
sions, depended  upon  the  burro  for  aid,  and 
he  did  not  disappoint  them.  And  so  for  more 
than  three  centuries  he  has  been  in  the  proces- 
sion of  progress  and  has  marched  at  its  head. 

The  fortunes  of  the  Spaniard  have  fluctu- 
ated, but  the  burro  has  known  no  rise  nor  fall 


Ships  of  the  Desert  115 

in  his  prospects.  He  came  as  a  beast  of  bur- 
den, and  as  such  he  has  remained.  It  is  all 
one  with  him  —  Spain  or  America.  If  he  has 
a  little  to  eat,  a  few  hours  for  slumber,  and  is 
not  too  heavily  burdened,  he  will  patiently  and 
contentedly  perform  his  work  and  offer  no 
complaint. 

He  clambers  up  the  mountain  trail  where 
the  horse  could  find  no  footing,  carrying  upon 
his  back  twice  his  own  weight,  and  he  picks 
his  way  along  the  brow  of  the  mountain  or  the 
edge  of  mighty  precipices  as  unconcernedly  as 
though  he  were  treading  the  pavement  of  a 
boulevard  or  the  soft  turf  of  green  meadows. 
If  his  owner  places  too  heavy  a  load  upon  him 
he  makes  no  complaint.  Not  he  !  He  sim- 
ply lies  down  till  the  burden  is  made  lighter. 
There  is  no  arguing  the  question  with  him. 
He  is  indifferent  alike  to  blows  and  pleadings. 
Not  an  inch  will  he  stir  till  matters  are  ad- 
justed. He  knows  his  capacity,  and  his  load 
must  conform  to  it. 

Few  mines  have  been  discovered  in  the 
mountainous  or  desert  regions  of  the  West 
without  the  assistance  of  the  burro.  The  steel 
tracks  of  the  locomotive  which  wind  in  and 
out  of  the  cartons  and  passes  and  over  the 
mountains  were  led  thither  by  the  burro.  The 


n6          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

explorer  has  thrown  the  burden  of  his  efforts 
upon  him,  and  the  prospector  deems  him  indis- 
spensable.  He  is  the  veritable  "ship"  of  the 
western  desert,  and  many  a  man  owes  his  life 
to  his  burro.  He  will  live  longer  without 
water  and  scent  it  farther  than  any  known 
animal  save  the  camel. 

As  an  example  of  the  keen  scent  of  the 
burro  for  water  may  be  related  the  experience 
of  two  prospectors  named  Peterson  and  Kelley, 
who  a  few  years  ago  attempted  to  cross  the 
Great  Mojave  Desert  on  foot.  They  had  with 
them,  to  carry  their  supplies,  a  burro.  In  pass- 
ing from  oasis  to  oasis  they  lost  their  way  and 
the  supply  of  water  became  exhausted.  To 
be  lost  in  the  desert  is  a  terrible  thing,  and 
the  anxiety,  coupled  with  the  torturing  thirst 
and  the  intense  heat,  drove  Peterson  insane. 
He  left  his  companion  and  fled  shrieking  across 
the  plain.  Kelley  picketed  the  burro  and  went 
after  Peterson  to  bring  him  back,  but  he  was 
unable  to  overtake  him.  He  returned  to  the 
trail  to  find  that  his  burro  had  broken  his 
tether  and  was  moving  across  the  desert  at  a 
leisurely  pace.  He  followed,  but  the  animal 
was  so  far  in  the  lead,  and  he  was  so  exhausted 
from  his  efforts  to  overtake  Peterson,  that  he 
could  not  come  up  to  him. 


TTBR  A  *7 

or  -HE 

UNIVH^SIT  ; 

or 

i  c  r\  rt  c4  \  ^. 


Ships  of  the  Desert  1 19 

Night  came  upon  him,  and  it  soon  became 
so  dark  that  he  could  not  distinguish  the  burro 
and  he  had  to  follow  him  by  the  footprints  in 
the  sand.  When  it  became  too  dark  to  dis- 
tinguish them  he  still  staggered  on  in  sheer 
desperation. 

By  and  by  his  heart  gave  a  great  throb. 
Before  him,  outlined  against  the  sky  and  seem- 
ingly suspended  in  the  air,  was  a  form  which 
he  knew  to  be  either  his  burro  or  an  appari- 
tion. He  hurried  forward  and  lo!  standing 
upon  a  sharp  rise  of  ground  and  facing  him 
was  his  lost  burro,  who  seemed  to  be  awaiting 
him  for  a  purpose,  for  when  he  came  up  to 
him  the  animal  turned  and  led  the  way  down 
the  incline  to  a  spring  of  living  water. 

Kelley  gave  a  shout  of  joy  and  plunged 
bodily  into  the  spring.  After  he  had  soaked 
his  parched  skin  and  moistened  his  lips  and 
throat,  he  crawled  out  and  went  to  his  burro, 
which  was  browsing  upon  the  green  herbs 
growing  about  the  place.  Throwing  his  arms 
about  the  neck  of  the  animal  he  gave  the 
creature  a  hearty  hug  and  a  kiss.  If  this 
mark  of  affection  surprised  or  touched  the 
burro  he  made  no  sign.  He  merely  nipped 
another  mouthful  of  the  herbage  and  con- 
tinued chewing. 


120         The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

When  Kelley  had  taken  a  fresh  supply  of 
water  he  retraced  his  steps  to  the  point  where 
the  burro  had  broken  away.  It  was  fully  ten 
miles.  There  is  no  doubt  but  the  animal  had 
scented  the  water  all  that  distance,  and  his 
eagerness  to  get  to  it  had  led  him  to  strain  at 
his  fastenings  till  he  broke  loose.  Poor  Peter- 
son did  not  survive.  Kelley  found  his  dead 
body  the  next  morning  four  or  five  miles  from 
the  point  where  he  had  left  the  trail. 

The  burro  draws  no  color  line.  He  affiliates 
as  readily  with  the  Mexican  and  the  Indian 
as  he  does  with  the  whites.  The  desert  tribes 
have  little  success  with  horses,  and  even  the 
rugged  bronchos  cannot  endure  the  heat  and 
thirst  incident  to  life  in  that  region,  but  the 
burro  is  as  much  at  home  and  seemingly  as 
contented  there  as  are  his  brethren  who  live 
and  labor  in  the  alfalfa  meadows  of  the  fertile 
belt. 

The  burro  is  never  vicious.  Unlike  his 
cousin,  the  mule,  he  knows  no  guile.  As  a 
playmate  for  children  he  has  no  rival.  He 
humors  them,  bears  with  them,  and  lets  them 
work  their  own  sweet  wills  with  him.  He 
requires  little  care,  asks  little  to  eat,  and  seems 
simply  to  crave  existence. 

Let  the  artist  in  search  of  a  model  for  con- 


V\B? 
v  or  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

or 

.^-  IF 


Ships  of  the  Desert  123 

tentment  go  to  the  burro.     There  he  will  find 
contentment  personified. 

He  does  not  sigh  and  moan  that  he,  alas, 
Is  but  a  mongrel,  neither  horse  nor  ass. 
Content  that  being  neither,  he  may  do 
His  work  and  live  as  nature  meant  him  to. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  STORY  OF  A  STREAK  OF  YELLOW 

IF  "the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  evil,"  it 
is,  as  well,  the  germ  of  progress.  It  was 
the  imaginary  glitter  of  the  yellow  metal  that 
lured  De  Soto  across  the  continent  to  the 
Mississippi  and  beyond  ;  it  enticed  De  Balboa 
to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  led  Cortez  through 
the  land  of  the  Aztecs,  and  its  magnetism 
drew  Alvarado  down  into  Central  America 
and  carried  Pizarro  to  the  conquest  of  Peru  ; 
it  dragged  Coronado  across  the  arid  plains  of 
Mexico,  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona  in  search 
of  the  fabled  land  of  Cibola,  and,  in  fact, 
its  gleaming  has  explored  and  exploited  the 
Americas  from  Alaska  to  Cape  Horn.  It  has 
led  man  to  brave  the  perils  of  the  desert,  and 
as  the  result  prosperous  towns  have  sprung 
up  in  that  dread  region,  and  millions  of  dollars 
of  wealth  have  been  wrested  from  its  treasure- 
house.  Just  what  this  continent  would  now 
be,  had  it  not  been  for  the  glitter  of  the  yel- 

124 


The  Story  of  a  Streak  of  Yellow     127 

low  dust,  it  is  hard  to  estimate.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  dusky  savage  would  still  hold 
dominion  over  the  land. 

The  prospector  is  the  advance  agent  of 
progress,  civilization,  and  prosperity.  He  has 
spied  out  the  country, —  with  the  aid  of  his 
faithful  burro, —  and  has  marked  every  trail, 
preceded  every  stage  route  and  railroad,  and 
founded  the  greater  number  of  towns  on  the 
western  half  of  this  United  States. 

He  it  is  who  has  unlocked  the  treasure- 
house  of  the  continent  and  poured  into  the 
coffers  of  this  Republic  the  golden  stream 
which  has  made  her  the  first  nation  on  the 
globe.  It  is  for  the  sight  of  a  yellow  streak 
in  his  pan  that  he  has  been  tempted  to  en- 
dure the  fatigue,  cold,  and  hunger  of  the 
mountains,  and  the  heat,  thirst,  and  horror  of 
the  desert. 

The  prospector  is  a  man  of  small  preten- 
tions,  of  peaceful  disposition,  indomitable  will, 
boundless  perseverance,  remarkable  endur- 
ance, undoubted  courage,  irrepressible  hope- 
fulness, and  unlimited  hospitality.  He  is  the 
friend  of  every  man  till  he  has  evidence  that 
the  man  is  his  enemy,  and  he  is  the  most 
respected  man  in  the  mining  regions  of  the 
West. 


128          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

Of  what  does  the  prospector's  outfit  con- 
sist ?  That  is  a  question  the  writer  put  to 
one  of  the  ilk  who  was  just  starting  out  for 
the  desert. 

"  Plenty  of  bacon,  son,"  said  he,  "  for  that  's  whar  ye 
git  yer  grease  fer  to  fry  yer  flap-jacks,  yer  stock  fer 
soup,  an'  it  gives  ye  rines  fer  the  burro  to  chaw.  Next 
ye  takes  rice,  fer  it  don't  take  up  much  room  an'  it 
swells  like  all-git-out  when  ye  gits  it  in  the  pot.  Comes 
mighty  handy  in  yer  soup,  too.  Half  a  dozen  onions 
an*  a  few  taters  —  not  many,  fer  ye  can't  tote 'em  — 
them  's  fer  soup,  too,  an'  then  the  flour.  Flour  's  the 
principal  thing  in  the  grub  line.  A  few  beans  is  good 
an'  they  swells  like  the  rice.  Then  thar  's  the  tent  can- 
vas an'  the  blankets  an'  the  pick  an'  shovel  an'  pan,  fer 
washin'  dirt,  the  mortar  an'  chemicals  fer  testin'  rock, 
an'  the  cookin'  outfit.  There  's  a  knife,  a  fork,  a  spoon, 
a  tin  plate  an'  cup  an'  the  fryin'  pan,  an'  thar  ye  are." 

The  prospector  no  longer  deems  it  neces- 
sary to  seek  entirely  new  territory  in  which  to 
prosecute  his  search  for  the  precious  metal. 
He  has  learned  that  good  results  are  obtained 
on  ground  many  times  prospected.  It  takes 
sharp  eyes  to  detect  traces  of  the  precious 
stuff  —not  only  that,  but  keen  judgment  and 
technical  knowledge  coupled  with  experience. 

In  the  early  days  of  mining  in  this  country 
it  was  in  the  placer  fields  that  the  prospector 
reaped  his  fortune.  In  California,  successive 


The  Story  of  a  Streak  of  Yellow     131 

ages  of  erosion  had  worn  away  portions  of  the 
gold-bearing  veins  of  the  Sierras,  and  the  rains 
and  brooks  and  rivers  had  distributed  the 
metal  along  the  valleys  and  plains  where  it  but 
awaited  the  test  of  the  pan  to  disclose  its 
whereabouts.  In  ten  years  after  the  pros- 
pector began  his  wanderings  through  the  State 
there  were  taken  from  the  placer  diggings 
more  than  $500,000,000  worth  of  gold.  In 
the  year  1875,  $20,000,000  worth  were  washed 
from  the  sands  of  California  Gulch  alone. 

When  the  placer  fields  were  practically 
worked  out  the  prospector  began  looking  for 
"  mother  lodes,"  as  they  termed  the  veins 
which  had  furnished  the  dust  and  yellow  lumps 
they  had  been  gathering  from  the  sands  in 
the  placer  diggings.  In  this  search  the  real 
skill  of  the  prospector  comes  into  play. 

Gold  is  found  in  a  variety  of  rocks.  Its 
usual  home,  however,  is  in  quartz,  although  a 
few  of  our  richest  mines  have  been  found  in 
other  rocks.  The  prospector  must  be  able  to 
read  the  book  of  nature  closely. 

He  starts  from  the  placer  fields  to  search 
for  the  mother  lode.  He  must  determine  in 
what  direction  to  prosecute  his  search.  The 
fine  particles  of  gold  which  have  been  dissemi- 
nated through  the  soil  must  originally  have 


132          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

come  from  higher  ground.  One  thing  to  de- 
termine is  whether,  since  the  gold  has  been 
laid  down,  there  has  been  displacement  or  up- 
heaval. If  not,  it  is  evident  that  somewhere 
upstream  he  must  look  for  the  vein,  but  the 
question  is  :  Where.  There  are  mountains  and 
valleys  upon  every  side,  and  in  any  one  of 
these  may  lie  the  object  of  his  search. 

He  circles  about,  looking  for  "  float,"  as  the 
small  pieces  of  disintegrated  quartz  or  rock 
are  called.  If  he  finds  one  piece  he  seeks  a 
second  and  a  third,  that  he  may  get  a  line  or 
trail  to  the  point  from  which  they  came. 

We  will  suppose  that  he  finds  several  pieces 
of  float  at  intervals  on  a  certain  line.  He 
follows  these  to  a  point  where  two  canons  or 
valleys  join.  Here  is  another  puzzle.  He 
must  again  turn  to  the  book  of  nature  and 
closely  scan  her  pages.  His  mode  of  reason- 
ing will  be  something  like  this  : 

"  Here  are  three  pieces  of  float.  One  I 
found  back  at  the  mouth  of  this  valley.  An- 
other I  picked  up  forty  rods  back,  and  here, 
where  the  canon  splits,  I  find  the  third.  Now 
from  which  branch  did  they  come  ?  They 
could  not  have  come  from  the  sides  of  this 
canon,  for  they  bear  away  from  both  sides 
where  I  found  this  last  piece.  Now,  if  they 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  A  Co. 

AN  ANXIOUS  MOMENT-LOOKING  FOR  THE  YELLOW  STREAK 


133 


." 

The  Story  of  a  Streak  of  Yellow     135 

had  come  from  the  left  branch  they  would 
have  landed  over  against  the  right  side  of  the 
valley,  for  there  is  where  the  debris  from  that 
gulch  has  piled  up.  The  float  was  on  the  left 
side  and  therefore  must  have  come  from  the 
gulch  on  the  right.  They  did  not  come  from 
far,  for  the  edges  have  not  been  worn  smooth 
by  the  action  of  the  water  and  by  friction 
with  other  pebbles.  Then,  too,  this  last  piece 
is  too  large  to  have  been  carried  any  great 
distance." 

The  prospector  then  takes  the  right-hand 
gulch  and  soon  finds  other  pieces  of  float  and 
knows  that  he  is  on  the  right  trail.  By  and 
by  he  finds  his  quartz  vein  outcropping,  or  he 
has  the  good  luck  to  uncover  it.  He  ex- 
amines the  rock  carefully  and  obtains  some 
promising  specimens  and  proceeds  to  test 
them.  In  his  mortar  he  grinds  the  specimens 
to  a  fine  powder.  This  powder  he  roasts  in  a 
big  iron  spoon  till  it  is  cherry  red.  He  finds 
that  the  ore  fuses,  indicating  a  metal  of  some 
kind,  so  he  drops  a  bit  of  blazing  paper  into 
it  and  notes  that  the  flame  burns  brighter. 

o 

That  indicates  the  presence  of  nitrates  and 
chlorides.  Then  he  takes  some  of  the  oxi- 
dized ore  and  puts  it  into  a  tin  cup  and  covers 
it  with  iodine.  After  it  has  stood  two  or 


136          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

three  hours  he  soaks  a  piece  of  filter  paper  in 
the  solution  and  sets  fire  to  it.  If  it  gives 
out  a  purple  color  in  burning  he  knows  there 
is  gold  in  it.  How  much  must  be  determined 
by  assay,  but  it  is  encouragement  enough  to 
lead  him  to  select  the  most  promising  location 
and  stake  his  claim  thereon.  Then  he  loads 
his  burro  with  specimens  of  his  ore  and  re- 
turns to  civilization  to  seek  an  assayer. 

If  the  assayer  finds  large  proportions  of  gold 
in  the  ore  the  prospector  has  little  trouble  in 
finding  capital  to  interest  itself  in  his  property 
to  the  extent  of  developing  it  for  an  interest, 
and  perhaps  his  fortune  is  made.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  assay  may  prove  unfavorable 
and  show  returns  so  small  as  to  make  it  un- 
profitable to  mill  the  ore,  and  the  matter  ends 
there.  The  prospector  then  starts  out  after 
another  will-o'-the-wisp.  With  many  it  is  a 
lifelong  chase,  with  a  pauper's  grave  at  the 
end  of  the  course.  It  is  a  fascinating  life,  how- 
ever, and  once  a  prospector  is,  in  most  cases, 
always  a  prospector. 

To  some,  fortune  comes  on  the  brink  of  the 
grave,  to  some  never,  and  now  and  then  the 
most  inexperienced  "  tenderfoot "  stumbles 
upon  wealth  at  the  very  outset  of  his  search. 
There  was  the  notable  case  of  Dave  Moffatt. 


The  Story  of  a  Streak  of  Yellow     139 

He  had  no  technical  knowledge  of  mining  and 
absolutely  no  experience.  He  started  out  in 
the  hills  prospecting  and  chanced  upon  a  deer's 
horn  lying  upon  the  ground. 

"That's  a  sign  of  good  luck,"  reasoned  he, 
and  he  fell  to  digging  where  had  lain  the  horn. 
He  struck  it  rich,  named  his  claim  the  "  Deer's 
Horn,"  sold  out  for  forty  thousand  dollars — 
and  got  cheated. 

Even  the  most  experienced  prospector  be- 
lieves in  luck.  They  believe  that  experience 
counts  for  little  if  a  man  is  not  naturally  lucky. 
They  still  refer  to  the  late  multi-millionaire 
Stratton  as  an  example  of  the  lucky  man.  He 
found  his  famous  Independence  mine  where 
hundreds  of  experienced  prospectors  had  re- 
peatedly looked  over  the  ground.  They  tell 
how  the  cows  once  cropped  the  grasses  over 
the  richest  mines  of  Cripple  Creek,  while  their 
owners  cursed  their  luck  for  not  being  able  to 
strike  pay.  No  amount  of  hard  luck,  how- 
ever, will  convince  the  prospector  that  his 
good  luck  is  not  waiting  just  ahead,  so  he 
totes  his  pick  and  pan  over  mountain  and 
plain,  out  into  the  heart  of  the  desert,  up  and 
down  the  face  of  the  earth,  till  he  stakes  his 
final  claim — six  feet  of  earth — where  the  lucky 
and  unlucky  are  on  an  equal  footing. 


140          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

Many  rich  strikes  of  gold  have  been  made  in 
the  Colorado  and  Mojave  deserts.  The  possi- 
bilities of  these  deserts  are  not  exhausted, 
however.  Prof.  G.  E.  Bailey  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, who  was  one  of  a  party  of  Government 
surveyors  who  recently  made  an  exhaustive 
study  of  the  Mojave  Desert,  says  : 

"  We  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  Alaska  as  a  gold- 
producer,  but  the  Mojave  Desert  is  now  more  talked 
about  in  the  financial  centers  of  the  East  than  Alaska, 
and  the  day  is  not  far  off  when  there  will  be  a  greater 
rush  to  this  desert  than  ever  there  was  to  the  northern 
zone. 

"  Take  the  desert  as  a  mineral-bearing  region,  and  we 
have  not  begun  to  discover  its  vast  wealth.  There  are 
gold-fields  here  which  will  astonish  the  world.  Every 
little  while  some  prospector  brings  in  float  rock,  spark- 
ling with  the  precious  metal  which  has  been  broken 
from  a  ledge  as  rich,  but  that  ledge  has  been  hunted  for 
in  vain.  The  day  will  come  when  these  rich  ledges  will 
be  located  and  contribute  to  the  world's  wealth  of  gold." 

Speaking  of  the  recent  placer  strike  near  the 
town  of  Needles  he  says  : 

"  The  real  wealth  of  the  ground  has  not  been  deter- 
mined, but  gold,  coarse  gold  and  nuggets  of  good  size, 
have  been  discovered.  The  real  story  of  the  strike  is 
about  like  this  : 

'  The  Clark  road  is  building  down  a  canon  between 
Needles  and  Goff,  and  the  men  had  occasion  to  drive 


The  Story  of  a  Streak  of  Yellow     141 

several  piles.  One  of  the  piles  was  split  and  was  with- 
drawn, when  several  nuggets  were  found  imbedded  in 
the  pine.  Word  of  the  strike  was  sent  quietly  to  San 
Francisco,  and  several  well-known  men  from  there 
came  down  and  located.  I  believe  the  field  is  to  develop 
into  a  permanent  one,  and  may  yet  grow  to  large 
proportions.' " 

The  Randsburg  district  was  discovered  in 
1894,  and  it  has  developed  into  an  extensive 
gold-producing  district  of  which  Randsburg 
and  Johannesburg  are  the  chief  towns.  That 
field  has  yielded  millions  of  dollars  of  gold 
and  is  yet  in  an  early  stage  of  development. 


CHAPTER   X 

DESERT    BORAX    MINES 

IN  the  most  desolate,  dangerous,  and  terrify- 
ing locality  in  the  United  States,  if  not  in 
the  whole  world,  lie  the  largest  known  de- 
posits of  borax  in  the  universe.  Death  Valley 
is  the  repository  of  more  mineral  wealth  than 
has  ever  been  brought  out  of  the  Klondike, 
but  Death  stands  guard  over  the  hoards  of 
gold,  silver,  copper,  salt,  niter,  borax,  and 
precious  stones  known  to  abound  there. 

Every  year  prospectors  brave  the  terrors  of 
the  desert  and  enter  the  dread  portals  of  the 
gateway  to  the  valley.  This  gateway  is  through 
a  range  of  mountains  to  which  have  been 

o 

given  the  most  appropriate  name  of  Funeral 
Mountains.  Every  year  new  tragedies  are 
enacted  in  the  valley  and  new  graves  are  made 
under  the  shadow  of  these  mountains,  or  else 
the  victims,  finding  no  grave,  lie  upon  the 
burning  sands  and  stare  with  sightless  eyes  at 
the  mountains  which  bound  the  valley. 

142 


Desert  Borax  Mines  145 

Where  fortunes  are  to  be  made  lives  are 
held  cheap,  and  nature's  great  deposits  of 
wealth  in  the  valley  have  tempted  man  to  pit 
his  ingenuity,  strength,  and  endurance  against 
the  powers  of  the  great  destroyer. 

In  the  United  States  the  supply  of  borax  is 
limited  to  the  States  of  California,  Oregon, 
and  Nevada.  Until  within  the  last  ten  or 
twelve  years  the  supply  of  borax  in  this  coun- 
try was  derived  from  evaporating  the  water  of 
Clear  Lake  and  several  alkaline  marshes  in 
California  and  Nevada.  In  1890,  it  was  dis- 
covered that  the  crust  of  borax  which  formed 
in  such  places  was  but  a  secondary  deposit 
from  the  main  body  of  the  mineral  drug  stored 
below.  Then  began  the  real  history  of  the 
borax  industry  in  this  country. 

It  is  said  that  borax  is  never  found  in 
nature  except  in  craters  of  extinct  volcanoes. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  certain  it  is  that  in  Cali- 
fornia all  the  deposits  yet  discovered  lie  at 
the  bottom  of  those  bowl-shaped  valleys  which 
are  known  to  have  been  once  the  outlet  for 
the  vomitings  of  prehistoric  Pelees. 

The  presence  of  borax  is  indicated  by 
the  snowy  appearance  of  the  valley  bottoms, 
and  to  the  uninitiated  these  white  stretches, 
when  seen  from  a  little  distance,  might  well  be 


The  Mystic  Mid-Region 


mistaken  for  snow-fields.  Many  a  life  has  been 
lost  in  attempting  to  cross  these  snowy  plains, 
for  beneath  the  thin  shell  of  salts  lie  fathom- 
less depths  of  poisonous  waters,  for  the  fun- 
nels of  those  extinct  volcanoes  are  filled  with 
solutions  of  a  multitude  of  mineral  drugs  such 
as  were  never  brewed  in  chemist's  laboratory. 

In  Death  Valley  thirty  thousand  acres  of 
borax,  niter,  soda,  and  salt  deposits  have  been 
located.  The  valley  is  literally  a  vast  chemi- 
cal laboratory  where  Nature  has  compounded 
and  stored  drugs  by  the  millions  of  tons.  It 
is  the  drug  store  of  the  universe. 

There  are  several  different  forms  in  which 
borax  occurs  in  nature.  It  is  found  in  solu- 
tion in  some  of  the  lakes  and  pools,  from 
which  it  is  obtained  by  evaporation  ;  in  salts 
or  crystals  known  as  boreat,  which  require  no 
other  treatment  than  to  be  dissolved  in  vats 
of  boiling  water  and  then  allowed  to  crystallize 
again,  and  it  is  found  in  the  form  of  "  cotton 
balls,"  as  the  round  masses  of  ulexite  are 
called,  masses  varying  in  size  from  a  rifle-ball 
to  a  bushel  basket.  The  finest  borax  on  the 
market  is  made  from  the  "  cotton  balls." 
These  balls,  when  broken,  are  fibrous  and 
woolly  in  appearance,  hence  the  name. 

When  it  was  discovered  that  the   real   de- 


I 


Desert  Borax  Mines  149 

posits  of  borax  lie  beneath  the  surface  de- 
posits, a  genuine  borax  mine  was  located  and 
developed  at  what  is  now  known  as  Boreat, 
twelve  miles  north  of  Daggett,  on  the  line  of 
the  Santa  Fe  railroad,  where  the  reduction 
works  are  situated.  The  wonderful  richness 
of  this  deposit  has  led  to  further  explorations, 
and  the  remarkable  finds  in  Death  Valley  have 
resulted. 

When  brought  to  the  works  at  Daggett,  the 
lumps  of  borax  are  fed  into  the  mammoth  iron 
jaws  of  a  crusher  which  breaks  them  into  lumps 
of  an  uniform  size  about  the  bigness  of  the 
average  chestnut.  These  lumps  are  fed  to 
the  grinder,  which  reduces  them  to  powder, 
and  the  powder,  in  turn,  is  passed  through 
rollers  like  those  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
the  finest  grades  of  wheat  flour.  From  these 
rollers  it  comes  forth  as  fine  as  the  product  of 
the  wheat  from  which  our  most  choice  bread  is 
made.  Then  it  is  mixed  with  carbonate  of 
soda,  which  is  mined  in  Death  Valley,  and  the 
mixture  is  thrown  into  vats  of  boiling  water 
and  agitated  by  means  of  revolving  wheels  till 
the  mass  is  dissolved  and  thoroughly  mixed. 
From  this  compound  are  precipitated  two 
powders,  one  the  borax  of  commerce,  the 
other  the  well-known  product  styled  sal  soda. 


i5°          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

Borax  from  Death  Valley  first  entered  the 
markets  about  twenty  years  ago.  It  was  mined 
from  deposits  found  in  the  Calico  Mountains 
and  from  one  or  two  sinks  in  the  valley,  and  it 
was  hauled  out  of  the  valley  and  one  hundred 
miles  across  the  desert  in  wagons  drawn  by 
mule  teams  of  from  eighteen  to  thirty-two 
mules  each. 

During  the  five  or  six  years  following  the 
opening  of  the  mines,  large  quantities  of  borax 
were  taken  out  and  placed  upon  the  market. 
Then,  in  the  spring  of  1888,  the  mines  were 
closed  because  it  was  impossible  to  find  men 
to  work  the  mines  or  drive  the  mules.  It  be- 
came known  that  few  men  who  went  into  the 
mines  came  out  alive.  At  the  end  of  six  or 
seven  months  the  miner  succumbed  to  the 
terrific  heat  and  the  poisonous  atmosphere,  or 
else  he  was  a  broken-down  invalid  incapable  of 
doing  further  work.  It  came  to  be  considered 
simply  a  form  of  suicide  to  engage  in  the  work, 
consequently  the  mine-owners  were  unable  to 
continue  operations. 

The  desert  borax  wagons  are  a  marvel  of 
themselves.  The  wagon  proper  is  made  to 
hold  ten  tons  of  borax.  It  has  a  bed  sixteen 
feet  long  by  four  feet  wide  and  sides  six  feet 
high.  The  hind  wheels  are  seven  feet,  and 


From  photograph  by  C.  C.  Pierce  &  Co. 

A  MONUMENT   IN  THE  LAND  OF  THIRST 


Desert  Borax  Mines  153 

the  front  wheels  five  feet,  in  diameter.  They 
are  fitted  with  tires  eight  inches  wide  and  an 
inch  thick,  and  an  empty  wagon  weighs  seventy- 
eight  hundred  pounds.  In  addition  to  this 
combined  weight  of  wagon  and  load,  amount- 
ing to  about  fourteen  tons,  is  the  trailer,  as  is 
called  the  water  wagon,  which  it  is  necessary 
to  attach  to  the  train  in  order  that  man  and 
beast  may  not  perish  of  thirst  on  the  journey. 
Altogether,  the  plucky  teams  have  to  haul 
through  the  yielding  sands  about  twenty  tons 

—nearly  or  quite  one  ton  to  the  beast. 

A  traction  engine  is  also  employed  in  haul- 
ing the  product  of  the  mines.  This  is  a  huge 
concern  weighing  hundreds  of  tons  and  doing 
the  work  of  several  mule  teams.  This  ma- 
chine has  not  been  found  adapted  to  all  features 
of  the  work,  however,  and  is  not  destined  to 
supersede  the  mule  wagons. 

A  little  more  than  twenty  years  ago  borax 
was  worth,  in  this  country,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  one  dollar  per  pound.  It  is  now  being 
mined, — even  under  the  present  disadvantages, 

—prepared,  and  marketed  at  a  profit  at  about 
ten  cents  a  pound,  with  a  prospect  of  still 
lower  figures  in  the  near  future. 


CHAPTER    XI 

OTHER  MINERALS  FOUND  IN   THE   DESERT 

GOLD  and  borax,  which  have  been  given 
chapters  in  this  work,  are  by  no  means 
all  the  minerals  found  in  the  California  des- 
erts. The  deserts  have  tempted  the  pros- 
pector ever  since  California  became  known  as 
a  mineral  field.  For  a  time  gold  was  the 
prime  object  of  his  search,  but  later  it  became 
known  that  other  minerals  were  capable  of 
yielding  profits  quite  as  great  as  the  yellow 
metal,  and  he  has  become  more  critical  in  his 
observations.  His  care  has  been  liberally 
rewarded. 

Borax  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  mineral 
products  to  attract  his  attention.  The  discov- 
ery of  large  deposits  of  this  in  Death  Valley 
was  followed  by  the  discovery  of  immense 
beds  of  niter,  of  sulphate  of  soda,  nitrate  of 
soda,  and  other  mineral  drugs  in  the  same 
vicinity. 

The  gold  belt  of  the  Mojave  Desert  has 
154 


Other  Minerals  Found  in  the  Desert  157 

been  traced  from  the  town  of  Mojave  to  Death 
Valley,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
miles.  The  belt  varies  in  width  from  two  to 
ten  miles.  Death  Valley  is  known  to  contain 
rich  deposits  of  gold  in  other  portions  of  the 
desert.  All  along  these  gold  belts,  silver  is 
also  more  or  less  abundant. 

The  silver  mines  of  the  Calico  district  have 
become  famous  for  their  yield  of  silver  bullion. 
These  mines  are  about  six  miles  north  of  the 
Santa  Fe  railroad  and  near  the  station  of 
Daggett.  The  belt  extends  in  an  easterly  and 
westerly  direction,  and  has  been  traced  and 
developed  for  a  distance  of  ten  miles.  The 
rocks  of  this  region  are  violet  or  brown  rhyo- 
lite,  often  porphyritic  ;  green,  yellow,  and  white 
tufa ;  greenish  hornblende  andesite ;  yellow 
and  green  breccia. 

Copper,  lead,  tin,  zinc,  iron,  manganese, 
baryta,  gypsum,  sulphur,  onyx,  marble,  asbestos, 
and  gem  stones  are  also  found  in  the  deserts. 

The  minerals  are  scattered  over  the  many 
thousands  of  square  miles  of  territory.  The 
difficulties  of  transportation,  coupled  with  the 
lack  of  water,  have  greatly  retarded  the  devel- 
opment of  the  known  mineral  fields,  as  well  as 
prevented  the  finding  of  other  rich  deposits 
which  doubtless  exist. 


158          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

The  character  of  the  mineral  rocks  is  multi- 
tudinous. In  the  Waterloo  Mines  in  the 
Mojave  Desert,  ore  is  found  in  a  belt  of  jasper 
which  yields  more  than  one  thousand  ounces 
of  silver  to  the  ton. 

Twenty-eight  miles  east  of  Daggett  are  large 
bodies  of  iron  ore  —  the  largest  known  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  These  deposits  have  been  prac- 
tically undisturbed  because  of  the  distance 
from  railroad  and  the  lack  of  water  and  fuel 
to  mine  and  smelt  the  ores.  When  a  railroad 
is  laid  to  the  locality  this  field  will  prove  a 
wonderful  source  of  wealth  to  those  who  se- 
cure possession  of  it. 

Five  miles  south  of  Oro  Grande  are  rich 
veins  of  copper  which  are  found  very  near  the 
surface.  These  deposits  were  discovered  by 
the  Mormons  who  settled  on  the  Mojave 
River  several  years  ago. 

Variegated  marble  quarries  have  been 
opened  twelve  miles  northeast  from  Victor,  in 
which  are  found  marbles  of  wonderful  beauty 
and  fineness.  Shades  of  crimson  and  gray, 
cream,  rose,  white,  pale  blue,  black,  chocolate, 
and  yellow  are  mined  from  these  quarries,  the 
ledges  of  which  outcrop  and  stand  above  the 
surrounding  lands.  Some  of  these  marbles 
approach  in  beauty  that  of  the  finest  onyx. 


Other  Minerals  Found  in  the  Desert  159 

The  Colorado  Desert  contains  numerous 
valuable  gold  mines,  as  well  as  silver,  copper, 
tin,  and  other  important  minerals.  Cement 
and  asbestos  are  found  in  abundance  in  certain 
sections.  Rich  deposits  of  the  latter  mineral 
are  found  in  the  vicinity  of  Indio  and  at  Palm 
Springs.  Lithia  rock  and  fine  clay  are  mined 
in  certain  sections  and  in  1902  the  richest 
known  tourmaline  deposits  in  America  were 
found  at  Mesa  Grande.  There  is  an  interest- 
ing story  connected  with  the  finding  of  these 
gems. 

Mesa  Grande  is  an  elevated  plateau  or 
tableland.  On  the  lower  adjacent  lands  water 
is  found,  and  ranchers  —  mostly  Mexicans - 
have  established  themselves.  Ever  since  the 
valley  became  settled  the  tableland  has  been  a 
favorite  playground  for  the  children.  A  por- 
tion of  the  mesa  is  scantily  covered  with  loam, 
where  grow  cacti  and  other  specimens  of  dry- 
weather  plants.  A  large  portion  of  the  mesa, 
however,  is  barren  and  the  rock  lies  exposed, 
gray,  mottled,  or  white  beneath  the  glaring 
sun  which  shines  ever  from  a  cloudless  sky. 
Here  and  there  the  granite  and  gneiss  show 
a  belt  of  snowy  white  quartz  which  gleams  in 
the  sunlight,  forming  a  pleasing  contrast  to 
the  darker  rocks  in  which  it  is  set. 


160          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

One  day,  while  playing  among  these  rocks, 
one  of  the  children  found  a  delicately  tinted 
transparent  pebble.  When  held  up  to  the  sun 
it  emitted  brilliant  reflections  and  sparkled 
and  scintillated  like  living  flame.  A  cry  of  de- 
light brought  the  other  children  to  the  spot, 
and  then  began  a  search  for  more  of  the  pretty 
stones,  with  the  result  of  the  gathering  of  a 
dozen  or  more  of  the  sparkling  stones  that 
afternoon.  After  this,  frequent  trips  were 
made  to  the  mesa  in  search  of  the  pretty 
pebbles,  and  scarcely  a  house  in  the  vicin- 
ity but  contained  collections  of  the  beautiful 
playthings. 

One  day  a  professional  gem-cutter  chanced 
to  visit  the  valley  under  the  mesa  and  in  a 
basket  of  playthings  he  saw  some  of  the  bright 
pebbles.  He  examined  the  stones  and  learned 
where  they  had  been  found.  Then  he  pros- 
pected the  locality  and  found  the  gem-bearing 
ledges  and  staked  claims  covering  the  richer 
portions  of  the  field.  Since  then  some  rare 
and  valuable  stones  have  been  taken  from  the 
mines,  gems  equal  to  those  of  Ceylon,  Brazil, 
or  Siberia,  which  countries  have  heretofore 
supplied  the  world  with  these  gems.  The 
gem-bearing  ledges  extend  over  two  or  three 
hundred  acres. 


Other  Minerals  Found  in  the  Desert  161 

Salt  is  another  valuable  mineral  found  in 
both  the  Mojave  and  Colorado  deserts.  The 
famous  salt-fields  of  Salton  are  in  the  latter 
desert,  but  they  have  a  story  all  their  own, 
which  will  be  told  in  another  chapter. 


CHAPTER    XII 

A    REMARKABLE    HARVEST-FIELD 

THE   most  remarkable  harvest-field   in   the 
United  States,  if  not  in  the  whole  world, 
is  located  in  the  heart  of  the  Colorado  Desert. 
The  spot  is  known  as  Salton,  and  it  lies  265 
feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea. 

The  crop  which  is  harvested  is  salt.  So 
plentiful  is  the  natural  deposit  of  this  neces- 
sary article  that  it  is  plowed  with  gang-plows, 
is  scraped  into  windrows  as  hay  is  raked  in 
the  field,  and,  like  hay,  it  is  stacked  into  heaps 
from  the  windrows  and  is  then  loaded  into 
wagons  and  later  into  cars  to  be  carried  to  the 
reduction  works  three  miles  away. 

There  are  about  one  thousand  acres  in  this 
saline  field.  When  one  looks  upon  this  glit- 
tering, sparkling,  and  scintillating  field,  which 
lies  like  a  great  patch  of  snow  dropped  down 
into  the  midst  of  the  burning  sands  of  the 
plain,  he  is  reminded  of  that  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture which  says  : 

162 


A  Remarkable  Harvest-Field      165 

41  Lift  up  your  eyes,  and  look  on  the  fields; 
for  they  are  white  already  to  harvest." 

This  field  is  literally  white  to  harvest  and  a 
most  phenomenal  harvest  it  is.  Over  a  briny, 
oozy  marsh  lies  a  crust  of  salt  six  to  sixteen 
inches  thick.  As  often  as  removed,  the  crust 
quickly  forms  again,  so  that  crop  after  crop  is 
taken  from  the  same  ground.  In  fact,  although 
these  harvests  have  been  going  on  nearly 
twenty  years,  and  two  thousand  tons  of  mar- 
ketable salt  are  annually  taken  from  the  beds, 
but  ten  acres  of  the  one-thousand-acre  field 
have  been  broken. 

The  laborers  employed  in  breaking  up  the 
salt  crust,  in  loading  the  salt  onto  the  wagons 
and  taking  it  to  the  mills,  in  cleaning  and  pre- 
paring it  for  the  market,  are  mostly  Japanese 
and  Indians.  In  the  summer  season  the  tem- 
perature reaches  130  to  140  degrees  at  Salton, 
and  white  men  are  unable  to  endure  the  work 
exposed  to  the  burning  rays  of  the  sun. 

The  ease  with  which  the  salt  is  procured  in 
this  field  makes  it  a  valuable  one.  At  very 
little  expense  the  salt  is  made  ready  for  market, 
and  it  brings  from  six  to  thirty-six  dollars  per 
ton,  according  to  the  grade. 

The  Coachella  Valley,  in  which  this  great 
field  of  salt  lies,  is  ninety  miles  long  and  from 


1 66          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

ten  to  thirty  miles  wide.  Its  one  thousand  six 
hundred  square  miles  of  territory  lie  wholly  be- 
low the  level  of  the  sea,  its  greatest  depression 
being  275  feet.  The  southern  portion  of  the 
valley  is  devoid  of  vegetation,  save  where  irri- 
gation has  been  introduced,  but  about  the 
northern  portion  of  the  valley  the  sage  and 
mesquite  have  obtained  a  foothold  in  the  sandy 
soil.  Near  Indio,  in  the  northern  portion  of 
the  valley,  an  artesian  well  was  drilled  a  few 
years  ago  and  a  copious  supply  of  water  was 
obtained.  Now  more  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  of  those  wells  are  pouring  their  waters 
over  the  thirsty  soil,  and  a  large  tract  of  land 
has  been  brought  into  a  high  state  of  cultiva- 
tion. The  lands  about  the  salt-fields,  how- 
ever, are  too  strongly  impregnated  with  salts 
and  alkali  to  offer  any  inducements  to  the 
rancher  now  or  in  the  future.  The  constant 
harvest  of  salt,  however,  is  a  rich  enough  re- 
turn for  the  lands  thus  unfitted  for  agriculture. 
This  desert  salt  is  remarkable  for  its  fine 
quality.  An  analysis  made  in  San  Francisco 
shows  its  constituents  to  be  as  follows  :  Chlo- 
ride of  sodium,  94.68  per  cent.  ;  calcium 
sulphate,  .77  per  cent.  ;  water,  .75  per  cent.  ; 
magnesium  sulphate,  3.12  per  cent;  sodium 
sulphate,  .68  per  cent.  ;  total,  100  per  cent. 


A  Remarkable  Harvest-Field      167 

Until  1901,  the  title  to  the  Salton  lands  was 
vested  in  the  Government,  and  the  company 
which  was  reaping  the  harvest  had  no  title  to 
the  property  and  no  legal  right  thereto.  There 
is  an  interesting  story  connected  with  the 
change  of  title. 

This  concern,  the  Liverpool  Salt  Company, 
had  a  competitor  for  the  salt  trade  of  the 
Pacific  coast  in  the  Standard  Salt  Company. 
The  Salton  fields  are  reached  by  means  of  the 
Southern  Pacific  Railway,  which  road  has  the 
handling  of  all  the  product  of  the  salt-fields. 
The  Standard  Company  alleged  that  the  rail- 
road people  discriminated  against  it  in  the  way 
of  freight  rates,  excluding  the  Standard  peo- 
ple from  the  coast  markets,  and  thus  securing 
a  monopoly  of  the  trade  for  the  Liverpool  Com- 
pany. This  led  the  managers  of  the  Standard 
Company  to  look  into  the  titles  of  the  salt- 
fields.  It  was  then  discovered  that  the  com- 
pany operating  was  without  title,  and  that  the 
lands  were  unallotted  Government  lands. 

The  attention  of  the  Government  officials 
was  called  to  the  fact  that  the  Liverpool  peo- 
ple were  trespassers,  and  an  order  was  issued 
for  the  company  to  vacate.  A  bill  was  then 
introduced  in  Congress  providing  for  filing 
claims  upon  saline  lands,  and  the  bill  passed 


168          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

the  Senate  January  22,  1901.  It  yet  required 
the  signature  of  the  President  to  make  it  a  law, 
however,  and  it  was  then  that  matters  became 
interesting  in  the  desert. 

Both  companies  congregated  men  on  the 
lands  adjoining  the  salt-fields,  prepared  to 
race  to  the  choice  portion  of  the  field  to  stake 
claims  the  moment  the  wire  should  apprise 
them  of  the  signing  of  the  bill.  Each  com- 
pany had  an  agent  in  Washington  ready  to 
telegraph  the  news  the  instant  it  became 
known,  and  each  company  had  a  man  at  the 
telegraph  station  at  Salton,  three  miles  from 
the  field,  to  take  the  message  to  the  men  the 
moment  it  came. 

The  Liverpool  Company  felt  confident  of 
winning  the  race,  for  the  company  owned  a 
spur  track  from  the  main  line  of  the  railroad 
to  the  salt-fields,  and  upon  this  line  was  placed 
a  hand-car,  manned  ready  to  pull  for  the  fields 
the  instant  the  dispatch  should  arrive.  This 
car  could  easily  outstrip  the  fleetest  horse,  the 
yielding  sands  making  it  impossible  for  a  steed 
to  make  rapid  progress. 

The  manager  of  the  Standard  Company, 
however,  did  not  depend  upon  horse  speed, 
mule  speed,  or  car  speed.  There  are  in  South- 
ern California  an  average  of  316  cloudless  days 


A  Remarkable  Harvest-Field      169 

each  year.  He  pinned  his  faith  to  the  weather, 
and  his  confidence  was  not  betrayed. 

At  2.45  o'clock,  the  afternoon  of  January 
3ist,  two  telegrams  arrived  at  Salton  at  about 
the  same  time.  One  was  for  the  manager  of 
the  Liverpool  Salt  Company  and  the  other 
was  for  the  manager  of  the  Standard  Salt 
Company.  The  contents  of  the  telegrams 
were  identical.  They  told  that  the  President 
had  signed  the  bill  which  opened  the  lands  in 
the  salt-field  to  entry.  In  a  moment  the  hand- 
car was  off,  the  men  pumping  for  dear  life. 
Before  they  had  gone  a  dozen  rods  there  shot 
from  the  station  a  blaze  of  light — a  message 
flashed  by  mirrors  held  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
catch  and  reflect  the  rays  of  the  sun.  To  the 
watchers  three  miles  away,  who  were  waiting 
for  the  signal,  which  had  been  prearranged,  it 
was  as  though  the  station  had  burst  into  flame. 
At  the  sight  of  this  signal  the  men  rushed  to 
the  salt-fields  and  set  the  stakes  and  posted 
the  notices  required  by  law.  When  the  hand- 
car men  arrived  it  was  all  over,  and  there  was 
nothing  for  them  to  do  but  to  return  and  swal- 
low their  chagrin. 

After  the  triumph  of  the  Standard  Company 
in  this  peculiar  race,  a  compromise  was  effected 
whereby  the  Liverpool  Company,  which  owned 


1 70          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

the  mills  and  apparatus  and  the  spur  track,  and 
all  other  equipments  for  the  operating  of  the 
field,  resumed  the  ownership  of  the  field,  and 
the  Standard  Company  was  granted  concessions 
which  placed  them  on  an  equal  footing  with 
their  competitors  in  the  markets  on  the  coast. 

In  June,  1891,  the  laborers  at  Salton  were 
treated  to  a  surprise.  They  found  the  coun- 
try filling  up  with  water  from  an  unknown 
source.  A  great  deal  of  apprehension  was 
felt,  as  it  was  thought  that  the  water  undoubt- 
edly came  from  a  crevasse  which  had  been 
opened  communicating  with  the  sea.  If  such 
were  the  case  it  was  to  be  expected  that  Salton 
would  soon  be  265  feet  under  water,  for  water 
seeks  its  level. 

The  flow  of  water  continued  till  an  area  ten 
miles  wide  by  thirty  miles  long  was  covered  to 
a  depth  of  six  feet ;  then  it  was  ascertained  that 
the  water  was  coming  in  from  the  Colorado 
River,  which  had  risen  above  its  banks  and 
was  cutting  a  channel  across  the  desert,  threat- 
ening to  convert  a  large  section  of  the  Coa- 
chella  Valley  into  an  inland  sea. 

This  inundation  was  caused  by  the  co-equal 
rise  of  the  head  waters  of  the  Colorado  and 
Gila  rivers.  The  waters  of  the  lower  Colorado 
rose  five  feet  above  high-water  mark  and  con- 


A  Remarkable  Harvest-Field      171 

tinned  to  pour  its  waters  into  the  desert  till 
the  Hood  subsided.  After  the  flood  had  abated, 
the  sands  of  the  desert  and  the  fiery  sun  soon 
drank  up  the  lake  thus  suddenly  formed. 

Inquiry  brought  forth  the  information  that  a 
a  similar  inundation  had  taken  place  in  1849. 
At  that  time,  however,  the  waters  subsided 
before  so  large  a  lake  had  been  formed. 

It  was  these  inundations  which  gave  birth  to 
the  idea  of  converting  a  part  of  the  waters  of 
the  Colorado  into  an  irrigating  canal  for  the 
purpose  of  reclaiming  the  lands  of  the  valley. 


o 


CHAPTER  XIII 

DEATH  VALLEY 

F  the  157,000  square  miles  of  territory 
which  comprise  the  State  of  California, 
35,000  square  miles  are  desert.  Of  this  area 
more  than  two  thousand  square  miles  lie  be- 
low the  level  of  the  sea.  The  lowest  point  in 
all  this  submarine  field  is  found  in  Death 
Valley,  the  most  terrifying  and  forbidding  re- 
gion in  the  world. 

Death  Valley  has  been  rightly  named.  It 
was  christened  with  blood  and  has  ever  lived 
up  to  its  title.  Sixty-eight  out  of  the  seventy 
Mormon  emigrants  who  wandered  into  that 
dread  region,  in  1849,  gave  their  lives  to  the 
christening.  The  story  of  their  terrible  death 
from  tortures  of  thirst  and  agonies  of  heat 
is  too  horrible  to  print.  They  came  into  a 
nameless  region  and  their  bodies  were  there 
consigned  to  unmarked  graves.  There  lie  to- 
day the  remains  of  all  that  party  save  two. 
These  two,  when  they  came  away,  left 

172 


Death  Valley  i?5 

behind  them   a  region    with  a  name — Death 
Valley. 

Since  then  other  names  have  been  given  to 
localities  within  this  terrible  region,  and  they 
have  been,  for  the  most  part,  names  in  keep- 
ing with  the  awfulness  of  the  place.  The 
mountains  which  tower  above  the  fearful  sink, 
shutting  it  off  from  the  great  desert  outside, 
have  been  named  4t  Funeral  Mountains." 
There  is  "  Furnace  Creek,"  whose  waters, 
bitter,  poisonous,  and  unpalatable,  flowing 
through  burning  sands,  become  heated  as 
though  literally  flowing  from  a  glowing  fur- 
nace. There  are  "  Ash  Meadows,"  a  plain 
strewn  with  scoriae  debris — a  Sodom  of  the 
Western  world.  There  is  the  "  Devil's 
Chair,"  a  gigantic  and  realistic  throne  worn 
by  erosion  from  the  huge  bluffs  which  form 
the  portals  to  the  valley,  a  seat  appropriate  to 
his  Satanic  majesty  were  he  to  choose  a  throne 
upon  earth.  Indeed,  according  to  a  notice 
posted  by  a  Government  surveying  party  in 
the  pass  into  the  valley,  the  home  of  the  chief 
of  imps  is  not  far  distant.  The  notice  reads 
thus  : 

DRY  PLACE 

PLEASE  KEEP  OFF  THE  GRASS 
SARATOGA  SPRINGS 


i?6          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

SODA,  BORAX,  AND  NITER 

MINERAL  MONUMENT 

DEATH  VALLEY,  365  FEET  BELOW  SEA-LEVEL 
105  MILES  TO  RANDSBURG 

85  MILES  TO  DAGGETT 

20  MILES  TO  EVANS'  RANCH 

30  MILES  TO  RESTING  SPRINGS 

10  MILES  TO  OWL  SPRINGS 

10  MILES  TO  SALT  SPRINGS 

32  MILES  TO  COYOTE  HOLES 

ERECTED  BY  THE  BAILEY  GEOLOGICAL  PARTY 

CHRISTMAS  DAY,  1900 

20  MILES  FROM  WOOD 

20  MILES  FROM  WATER 

40  FEET  FROM  HELL 

GOD  BLESS  OUR  HOME 

The  pool  known  as  Saratoga  Springs,  where 
this  monument  is  erected,  is  one  of  the  won- 
ders of  the  valley.  From  the  bottom  of  the 
circular  crater-like  basin,  which  is  about  thirty 
feet  across,  bubble  several  springs  whose  tepid 
waters  are  strongly  impregnated  with  sulphur. 
These  springs  keep  the  basin  full  and  over- 
flowing, and  the  waste  waters  seek  a  natural 
depression  near  and  form  a  lake  several  acres 
in  extent.  The  waters  are  not  fit  for  use, 
however,  being  rank  with  alkali  and  other 
mineral  substances. 

Death  Valley  has  an  area  of  nearly  five  hun- 
dred square  miles.  It  is  fifty  miles  long  and 


Death  Valley  177 

varies  in  width  from  five  to  ten  miles.  Its 
greatest  depression  is  480  feet  below  sea-level. 
In  this  limited  area  more  men  have  perished 
than  upon  any  other  similar  area  in  the  world, 
the  great  battle-fields  excepted.  The  remark- 
able mineral  wealth  of  the  region  has  been 
a  glittering  bait  to  lure  men  to  destruction. 
There  are  in  the  valley  golden  ledges,  the  ores 
of  which  run  in  value  to  fabulous  sums  per 
ton.  There  are  vast  beds  of  borax,  niter,  soda, 
salt,  and  other  mineral  drugs.  There  is  a 
single  salt-field  in  the  valley  thirty  miles  long 
and  from  two  to  four  miles  wide,  where  salt 
lies  a  foot  or  more  deep  over  the  entire  field. 
Turquoises,  opals,  garnets,  onyx,  marbles,  and 
other  gems  and  rocks  of  value  exist  in  abun- 
dance. The  valley  is  a  storehouse  of  wealth, 
the  treasure-vault  of  the  nation,  the  drug-store 
of  the  universe,  but  Death  holds  the  title. 

Although  Death  Valley  is  the  most  formid- 
able spot  in  all  the  desert  region,  it  is  not 
wanting  in  beauty.  Color  effects  such  as  artist 
never  dreamed  of  are  here  to  be  seen.  It  is 
not  the  coloring  given  by  vegetation,  however, 
for  verdure  is  lacking.  There  are  no  velvety 
green  meadows,  neither  are  there  fields  of 
blooming  flowers.  The  coloring  of  the  moun- 
tains and  plains  of  this  region  are  penciled  in 


178          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

unfading  and  unchanging  colors.  These  colors 
are  mineral  and  chemical  and  are  blended  in 
rare  harmony — laid  by  the  Master  Hand  which 
carved  this  remarkable  region  out  of  the  edge 
of  the  Western  continent. 

Green  and  blue  of  copper,  ruddiness  of 
niter,  yellow  of  sulphur,  red  of  hematite  and 
cinnabar,  white  of  salt  and  borax,  blend  with 
the  black  and  gray  of  the  barren  rocks  and  the 
dark  carmine  and  royal  purple  and  pale  green 
of  the  mineral-stained  granites. 

Heat  and  thirst  are  not  wholly  responsible 
for  death  in  this  valley,  for  some  have  frozen 
and  some  have  drowned  within  its  confines. 
Thermometers  register  as  high  as  140  degrees 
in  the  valley,  but  towering  above  the  region 
are  snow-clad  mountains,  and  it  sometimes 
happens  that  the  winds,  which  in  the  day  waft 
waves  of  furnace-like  heat  through  the  valley, 
bring  down,  by  night,  the  frigidity  of  the  up- 
per region,  chilling  to  death  the  unprotected 
prospector  who  may  chance  to  be  below. 

Again,  in  this  thirst-cursed  region,  which 
knows  not  the  blessing  of  the  shower,  some- 
times occur  terrible  cloudbursts  which  send 
solid  walls  of  water  tearing  down  the  mountain- 
sides, carrying  death  and  destruction  in  its 
wake. 


Death  Valley  181 

Nor  are  these  all  of  the  possible  dangers. 
In  this  great  drug  warehouse  arise  deadly  va- 
pors, and  the  passing  winds  whirl  clouds  of 
poisonous  dust  through  the  air,  which,  if  in- 
haled, will  eat  the  vitals  and  eventually  rob 
one  of  life. 

Notwithstanding  the  terrible  character  of 
this  valley,  there  is  an  instance  where  two  per- 
sons sought  it  for  the  express  purpose  of 
cheating  death.  A  Brooklyn  lawyer  named 
Whittaker,  and  his  wife,  were  both  stricken  with 
consumption.  By  advice  of  their  doctors  they 
sought  the  Pacific  coast,  going  to  Los  Angeles. 
Physicians  there  advised  them  to  seek  a  drier 
climate  ;  therefore,  in  a  wagon  equipped  with 
a  camping  outfit  and  a  supply  of  the  neces- 
sities of  life,  they  sought  the  Great  Mojave 
Desert.  Here,  indeed,  was  air  dry  enough  for 
their  purpose.  They  drove  from  oasis  to  oasis, 
and  soon  found  themselves  growing  better  and 
stronger,  notwithstanding  the  privations  they 
were  forced  to  endure.  They  determined  to 
make  their  home  somewhere  in  that  vast  soli- 
tude, but  where  was  a  question  yet  to  be 
decided. 

They  continued  to  wander  over  the  barren 
wastes  till  one  day  they  came  to  the  gate- 
way to  the  terrible  valley  of  death.  It  is  not 


1 82          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

certain  that  they  were  aware  of  the  identity  of 
the  locality.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  horses  were 
directed  valleyward  and  they  passed  through 
the  portals  which  have  admitted  so  many  and 
discharged  so  few. 

Inside  the  valley  they  found  a  man  guard- 
ing a  borax  mine  which  had  been  closed  down 
because  men  could  not  be  found  to  brave  the 
perils  of  the  valley  to  operate  it.  Here  Whit- 
taker  and  his  wife  rested  a  few  days  and  then 
they  pressed  on  into  the  valley.  Their  host 
tried  to  induce  them  to  turn  back,  but  they 
would  not  heed  him.  Onward  they  journeyed 
till  they  found  a  little  cafton  in  the  side  of  the 
mountain  which  formed  a  portion  of  one  of 
walls  of  the  valley,  and  this  spot  they  named 
home  and  made  there  a  permanent  camp. 
This  was  in  1893  or  1894.  Seven  years 
later  the  woman  died.  Whittaker  continued 
to  live  in  the  old  home,  but  the  loss  of  his 
wife,  coupled  with  the  solitude,  the  heat,  and 
the  poisons  of  the  atmosphere,  was  too  much 
for  his  reason  and  he  went  mad.  In  this  con- 
dition he  was  found  by  a  prospector — mad, 
but  rich,  for  the  floor  of  his  cabin  was  thickly 
littered  with  golden  nuggets. 

A  great  railroad,  the  San  Pedro,  Los  An- 
geles and  Salt  Lake  road,  is  now  spanning 


Death  Valley  183 

the  desert.  This  line  will  pass  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  entrance  to  the  valley,  and  when 
it  is  completed  the  real  conquest  of  the  valley 
will  begin.  It  is  predicted  that  a  branch  road 
will  shortly  be  built  into  the  valley  from  this 
road.  When  this  is  done,  and  pure  water  has 
been  piped  into  the  valley,  towns  and  per- 
haps cities  will  spring  up  in  the  midst  of  the 
dread  region,  even  as  they  are  now  springing 
up  in  the  great  submarine  region  of  the  Colo- 
rado Desert.  Then,  from  a  region  of  terror 
and  death,  it  may  become  a  valley  of  life, 
activity,  and  prosperity. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

THE    MOUTH    OF    HADES 

THE  VOLCANOES"  is  the  name  given 
to  a  most  peculiar  and  terrifying  region 
in  the  lower  Colorado  Desert.  Its  character 
is  such  as  to  lead  certain  of  the  Indians  who 
inhabit  the  desert  to  believe  it  to  be  the  gate- 
way to  the  land  of  evil  spirits.  Indeed,  it 
would  seem  to  be  the  very  gateway  to  Hades, 
and  one  is  reminded,  upon  visiting  the  region, 
of  John  Bunyan's  description  of  the  "Valley 
of  the  Shadow  of  Death "  through  which 
Christian  is  forced  to  pass. 

"  About  the  midst  of  this  valley  I  perceived 
the  mouth  of  hell  to  be,"  he  writes,  "  and  it 
stood  also  hard  by  the  wayside.  And  ever 
and  anon  the  flame  and  smoke  would  come 
out  in  such  abundance,  with  sparks  and  hideous 


noises." 


One  can  almost  imagine  that  Bunyan  wrote 
those  lines  from  the  Colorado  Desert,  after 
viewing  the  "  Volcanoes." 

184 


The  Mouth  of  Hades  185 

Over  an  area  of  more  than  a  mile  square  are 
scattered  hundreds  of  cone-like  mounds,  from 
one  foot  to  one  hundred  feet  in  diameter  and 
of  various  heights,  all  of  which  are  busily 
engaged  in  spitting  forth  sulphurous  vapors, 
black  ooze,  boiling  mud  and  water,  and  other 
volcanic  matter.  Over  the  region  eternally 
hang  dense  clouds  of  steam  and  hot  vapors, 
and  strange  sounds  emanate  from  this  diaboli- 
cal region.  There  are  hissings,  as  of  monster 
serpents  ;  strange  and  ominous  rumblings 
which  come  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  ; 
sharp  explosions,  singly  or  in  multitudinous 
concert,  like  the  running  fire  of  armies  en- 
gaged in  battle  ;  moaning  noises,  as  of  animals 
or  human  beings  in  distress ;  thuds  and  jars, 
as  of  heavy  bodies  falling, — all  these  and  a 
multitude  of  other  unusual  and  unnatural 
sounds  are  not  reassuring  to  timid  hearts. 

The  region  ~is  treeless  and  herbless.  Sul- 
phurous soil  and  sulphurous  air  have  proven 
fatal  to  vegetable  life.  Not  even  the  cactus 
or  desert  sage  can  survive  the  poisons  of  the 
soil.  Animal  life  is  equally  scarce,  and  the 
very  birds  of  the  air  avoid  the  locality. 

There  is  a  peculiar  sensation  experienced 
upon  entering  this  volcanic  region  after  hours 
of  travel  over  the  desert  in  the  glare  of  the 


1 86          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

sun,  which  here  ever  shines  from  a  cloudless 
sky.  As  one  approaches  the  eruptive  cones 
he  passes  into  a  shadow  which  is  almost  start- 
ling after  the  brightness  so  long  experienced. 
The  steam-clouds  shut  out  the  sun  from  this 
mile  of  gruesome  region,  but  the  heat  from  the 
numerous  craters  more  than  makes  up  for  the 
absence  of  the  fiery  rays  of  the  sun. 

In  one  portion  of  the  volcanic  territory  is  a 
body  of  water  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long,  which 
is  known  as  Lake  Juala  or  Black  Lake.  Its 
waters,  which  are  extremely  warm,  are  inky- 
black,  and  the  hands,  when  dipped  therein,  are 
stained.  It  is  not  known  what  minerals  or 
chemicals  are  held  in  solution.  It  is  probable 
that  the  waters  are  poisonous.  It  may  be, 
however,  that  they  have  wonderful  medicinal 
properties,  and  that  they  are  destined  to  heal 
the  ailments  of  humanity.  However  that 
may  be,  this  somber  sea  is  in  keeping  with 
the  region — a  fitting  lake  for  the  suburb  of 
Hades. 

Earthquakes  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  "  Volcanoes."  They  are  in 
line  of  the  so-called  "  earthquake  belt,"  which 
extends  up  and  down  the  coast,  California 
being  the  most  frequently  disturbed  of  the 
coast  States. 


The  Mouth  of  Hades  187 

Since  1850,  when  the  record  of  these  dis- 
turbances was  begun,  more  than  four  hundred 
shocks  have  been  felt  in  the  State.  Some  of 
these  have  been  slight  and  others  have  been 
severe.  The  earthquake,  Christmas  even- 
ing of  1900,  destroyed  the  village  of  Hemet 
over  against  the  western  side  of  the  desert 
and  caused  the  death  of  six  persons.  In  the 
year  1812,  the  mission  of  San  Juan  Capistrano 
was  destroyed  by  an  earthquake,  and  half  a 
hundred  lives  were  lost. 

Certain  changes  are  taking  place  in  this  re- 
gion. Some  portions  of  the  land  are  slowly 
sinking  and  other  points  are  rising.  The  same 
subterranean  fires  which  keep  active  the  hun- 
dreds of  miniature  volcanoes  heat  the  waters 
of  the  Caliente  and  Matajala  hot  springs, 
and  are  doubtless  responsible  for  the  frequent 
shiverings  of  Mother  Earth. 

There  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  earth 
—long  before  man  was  here  to  record  the  his- 
tory— when  a  chain  of  volcanoes  extended 
from  Alaska  on  the  north  to  Mexico  and  be- 
yond, on  the  south.  These  monster  spouters 
left  their  ineffaceable  record  upon  the  conti- 
nent in  the  way  of  vast  beds  of  lava  and  nu- 
merous craters,  which  the  centuries  have  not 
been  able  to  hide.  The  region  known  as 


1 88          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

the  "  Volcanoes  ?  may  be  the  remnant  of  that 
mighty  volcanic  period,  or  it  may  be  the  dawn- 
ing of  a  new  eruptive  season.  It  is.  in  either 
case,  a  locality  to  be  shunnedo 


CHAPTER  XV 

DESERT  MISCELLANY  — UNUSUAL  AND 
PECULIAR  FEATURES 

T^HERE  are  several  localities  in  the  deserts, 
about  which  cling  stories  and  traditions 
of  unusual  interest.  Superstition  Mountain, 
situated  in  the  southwestern  portion  of  the 
Colorado  Desert,  is  one  of  these. 

This  mountain  is  nearly  in  the  line  of  the 
old  trail  taken  by  the  early  overland  pioneers 
on  their  way  to  the  coast  by  the  way  of  Yuma. 
The  mountain  is  remarkable  in  one  respect- 
it  scarcely  ever  presents  the  same  appearance 
twice.  Its  contour  is  constantly  changing, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  it  is  bordered  by  gigan- 
tic sand-hills,  which  are  carved  and  whittled 
and  shaped  by  the  fierce  winds  which  sweep 
across  the  plain.  If  one  notes  some  point  or 
pinnacle  as  a  landmark  to-day,  to-morrow  he 
will  have  lost  his  bearings,  for  the  outlines 
will  have  been  changed. 

This  peculiarity  of  the  mountain  has  awak- 
189 


190          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

ened  the  fears  of  the  Cocopah  Indians,  who 
inhabit  that  region,  and  who  are  naturally  su- 
perstitious, and  they  shun  the  locality.  Noth- 
ing will  induce  them  to  mount  the  eminence, 
and  they  even  avoid  that  section  of  the  plain. 
It  is  to  them  the  abode  of  evil  spirits. 

Among  other  evil  spirits  who,  they  believe, 
inhabit  the  mountain,  is  one  which  bears  a 
strange  resemblance  to  the  Gaelic  "  banshee." 

The  old  folks  of  the  Irish  peasantry  to  this 
day  tell  of  the  banshee,  a  little,  old  weazened 
woman,  who  is  said  to  appear  to  persons,  clap- 
ping her  hands  and  wailing,  as  a  warning  of 
approaching  death.  The  Cocopahs  have  pre- 
cisely the  same  superstition,  save  that  the  ban- 
shee is  a  little  old  man,  "  Wah  Dindin,"  who 
is  supposed  to  come  down  from  Superstition 
Mountain  to  bring  death  to  the  one  to  whom 
he  appears. 

The  Cocopahs  are  very  much  averse  to  being 
photographed,  and  the  sight  of  a  camera  is  a 
signal  for  them  to  throw  themselves  face  down- 
ward upon  the  earth.  They  believe  that  their 
pictures,  if  taken,  are  transmitted  to  the  evil 
spirits  in  the  mountain,  and  that,  by  means  of 
this  picture,  the  little  old  man  of  death — the 
Cocopah  banshee — will  be  able  to  trace  them 
and  bring  them  death.  Some  of  the  more  en- 


Desert  Miscellany  193 

lightened  and  more  avaricious,  however,  upon 
being  bribed  with  silver,  so  far  overcome 
their  fears  as  to  allow  themselves  to  be 
photographed. 

White  men  are  not  so  loath  to  visit  the 
locality.  It  is  believed  that  this  mountain  or 
some  of  the  adjacent  hills  holds  the  famous 
lost  "  Pegleg  "  gold  mine. 

In  1837,  a  one-legged  man  named  Smith 
found  a  mine  of  wonderful  richness  in  the 
Colorado  Desert.  He  was  piloting  a  party 
over  the  desert  from  Yuma,  when  he  came  to 
three  hills  which  rose  out  of  the  plain.  Not 
being  sure  of  his  bearings,  he  mounted  the 
taller  of  the  hills  to  get  a  view  of  the  surround- 
ing country.  Upon  this  hill,  which  seemed  to 
be  composed  of  black  quartz  or  rock,  he  found 
out-cropping  ore  fairly  sparkling  with  the  pre- 
cious metal.  He  took  specimens  away  with 
him  and  learned,  upon  reaching  his  destina- 
tion, that  the  metal  was  really  gold.  The 
mine  became  known  as  the  "  Pegleg  Mine " 
from  the  fact  that  Smith  wore  a  wooden  leg 
and  was  known  as  "  Pegleg." 

After  conducting  his  party  safely  to  Los 
Angeles,  Smith  returned  to  the  desert  to 

1  "  Pegleg"  Smith  was  a  brother  of  the  famous  trapper,  Jedediah 
Smith, 
'3 


194         The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

investigate  his  find.  He  could  not  locate  it. 
He  could  not  even  find  the  hills  which  had 
been  the  landmark  upon  which  he  depended. 

In  1 86 1  or  1862,  a  prospector  passed  over 
the  trail  from  Yuma  to  Los  Angeles.  In  the 
Colorado  Desert  he  chanced  upon  three  hills, 
and  upon  the  larger  one  he  discovered  gold. 
He  reached  Los  Angeles  with  $7000  worth  of 
gold  nuggets.  He  told  of  his  find  and  de- 
scribed the  location.  It  tallied  with  the  de- 
scription given  by  Smith  of  his  find.  A  party 
was  formed  for  the  exploiting  of  the  mine,  and 
the  prospector  was  preparing  to  guide  his  as- 
sociates to  the  spot  when  he  was  taken  ill  and 
died.  The  mine  was  again  lost  and  has  never 
been  found. 

From  time  to  time  expeditions  have  gone 
forth  to  look  for  the  lost  Pegleg  mine,  but 
their  searches  have  been  fruitless.  Scores  of 
lives  have  been  lost  in  the  quest.  To  this  day 
skeletons  are  frequently  found  in  that  section 
of  the  desert,  grewsome  reminders  of  the  tor- 
tures of  that  terrible  region. 

One  of  the  last  of  these  search  parties  con- 
sisted of  Tom  Clover  of  Los  Angeles  and 
a  man  named  Russell,  of  San  Bernardino. 
The  latter  still  lives  in  San  Bernardino,  but 
Tom  Clover  left  his  bones  upon  the  desert. 


Desert  Miscellany  195 

He  ascended  Superstition  Mountain  to  take 
observations  while  Russell  remained  upon  the 
plain.  They  agreed  to  meet  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  mountain.  Russell  kept  the  ap- 
pointment, but  Clover  was  never  seen  again. 

In  the  midst  of  the  Colorado  Desert,  where, 
previous  to  the  bringing  in  of  water  by  the 
Imperial  canal  system,  neither  man  nor  beast 
could  find  means  of  subsistence,  are  found 
many  earthen  ollas  of  Indian  make  and  of 
ancient  pattern.  Nearly  every  settler  in  the 
Imperial  Valley  has  one  or  more  of  these  relics, 
some  chipped  and  broken,  but  many  in  a  per- 
fect condition. 

These  ollas  are  not  found  in  groups  and 
collections,  but  in  ones  and  twos  at  various 
intervals  in  the  interior  of  the  desert.  They 
have  a  story  to  tell  of  conditions  in  the  dim 
past  and  explain  how  it  happened  that  certain 
tribes  chose  so  forbidding  a  region  as  a  dwell- 
ing-place. 

In  ancient  times,  before  the  white  man— 
the  most  formidable  foe  the  redman  has  known 
—  came  to  this  continent,  the  various  tribes 
warred  with  each  other.  The  strong  wrested 
the  choice  portions  of  the  land  from  the  weaker 
tribes,  and  the  latter  were  forced  to  choose  be- 
tween the  desert  with  possible  death  or  certain 


196          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

annihilation  at  the  hands  of  their  foes.  They 
chose  the  desert. 

As  was  natural  in  the  case,  those  who  dared 
the  desert  made  their  abiding-place  at  the 
oases  of  the  desolate  region.  Here,  after  a 
certain  manner,  they  lived  and  accumulated 
more  or  less  of  the  things  which  represented, 
to  the  savage  mind,  wealth.  But  even  here 
they  were  not  yet  free  from  their  oppressors, 
who  occasionally  bore  down  upon  them  to  give 
them  battle. 

In  the  very  heart  of  the  desert,  far  from 
food  or  water,  these  persecuted  Indians  finally 
found  refuge.  They  learned  that  their  ene- 
mies dared  not  brave  the  perils  of  the  desert 
wastes,  therefore,  in  times  of  peace,  they  car- 
ried deep  into  the  desert  supplies  of  food  and 
water,  the  latter  in  the  large  earthen  ollas,  and 
cached  them  in  the  sands.  Each  warrior  at- 
tended to  the  supply  for  himself  and  family. 
They  did  not  store  the  supplies  of  the  tribe 
together,  but  purposely  scattered  them. 

When  an  attack  was  made  upon  them,  each 
man  sought  his  own  cache,  and  there  he  stayed 
till  food  and  water  were  exhausted.  By  that 
time  the  zeal  of  the  foe  would  have  cooled  off, 
no  doubt,  and  they  could  return  in  safety  to 
their  homes. 


Desert  Miscellany  199 

The  Indians  thus  persecuted  have  long  since 
passed  away,  but  the  story  of  their  tribulations 
is  brought  down  to  us  in  those  ollas  scattered 
over  the  burning  plain. 

Before  irrigation  made  habitable  a  portion 
of  the  Colorado  Desert,  persons  who  visited 
the  dread  region  came  back  to  civilization 
with  strange  tales  of  a  phantom  ship  which 
was  seen  to  sail  upon  a  spectral  sea.  Some- 
times this  ship  took  the  form  of  a  full-rigged 
three-master  ;  again  it  was  a  monster  war-ship, 
with  conning-towers  and  turrets,  and  great 
guns  projecting  fore  and  aft.  The  phantom 
vessel  always  appears  in  a  certain  portion  of 
the  desert  and,  instead  of  sailing  slowly  into 
sight  and  passing  steadily  on  out  of  range  of 
vision,  as  a  well-regulated  ship  should  do,  it 
has  the  remarkable  faculty  of  rising  suddenly 
from  the  mystic  sea  and  as  suddenly  sinking 
out  of  sight  again. 

When  the  Imperial  settlements  were  estab- 
lished in  the  land  of  mirages  the  mystery  of 
the  phantom  ship  was  solved.  About  thirty 
miles  south  of  the  international  line,  in  the  re- 
public of  Mexico,  rising  out  of  a  level  plain,  is 
a  triple-peaked  mountain  known  as  the  Black 
Buttes.  When  the  atmospheric  conditions 
are  favorable,  which  is  frequent,  the  Buttes, 


200         The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

which  from  the  Imperial  settlements  are  below 
the  horizon,  are  lifted  by  refraction  into  view, 
and  under  the  transforming  power  of  the  mi- 
rage they  appear  like  a  great  ship  sailing  upon 
a  vast  sea. 

Sometimes  the  three  peaks  are  elongated 
and  appear  to  be  masts,  while  the  solid  granite 
bulk  of  the  pile  takes  on  the  form  of  sails, 
seemingly  set  to  catch  the  winds  of  the  specter 
sea.  Again  the  peaks  are  less  elongated,  and 
they  appear  like  the  heavier  masts  of  a  war- 
ship, and  the  sails  are  tranformed  into  turrets 
and  towers.  The  mirage  eats  into  the  sides 
of  the  mountains,  leaving  exposed  several  pro- 
jecting points,  which  look  like  the  heavy  guns 
of  a  battle-ship.  Then,  perhaps,  while  the 
watcher  strains  his  eye  to  catch  the  strange 
vision,  it  suddenly  disappears  from  sight. 

At  times  the  transformation  from  three- 
master  to  war-ship,  or  from  war-vessel  to  three- 
master,  takes  place  before  the  watcher's  eyes, 
as  though  some  mighty  wizard  were  doing  the 
"Presto,  change  !"  act  for  the  gazer's  benefit. 
Then,  very  likely,  the  Buttes  lose  all  resem- 
blance to  ocean  craft  and  assume  their  natural 
shape,  but  appear  to  be  surrounded  by  water— 
a  granite  isle  in  a  placid  sea.  So  vivid  is  this 
picture  that  the  mountain  casts  a  perfect  in- 


Desert  Miscellany  201 

verted  shadow  of  itself  in  the  waters  which  ap- 
parently surround  it,  but  which  actually  do  not 
exist. 

There  are  other  peaks  and  mountains  which 
are  worthy  of  mention  among  the  features  of 
the  Colorado  Desert.  One  of  these  is  Pilot 
Knob,  and  Signal  Mountain  is  another.  These 
two  mountains  are  landmarks  which  serve  to 
guide  those  who  have  occasion  to  cross  the 
forbidding  region. 

Pilot  Knob,  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the 
desert,  is  the  point  toward  which  eastern-bound 
travelers  shape  their  course.  The  peak  can 
be  seen  more  than  a  hundred  miles,  and  it 
stands  out  so  distinctly  from  other  mountains 
in  that  quarter  of  the  desert  that  its  identity  is 
not  easily  lost. 

Signal  Mountain  rises  abruptly  from  the 
level  plain  near  the  western  side  of  the  desert 
at  the  international  line.  It  is  visible  from  all 
points  in  the  desert,  and  has  served  to  guide 
many  a  traveler  to  safety  who  otherwise  would 
have  perished  in  the  desert  wastes.  The  moun- 
tain is  pyramidal  in  form,  and  is  distinctive 
from  all  other  peaks  of  that  region. 

Along  the  eastern  rim  of  the  desert  stretches 
a  long  line  of  hills  two  or  three  hundred  feet 
in  height,  which  are  known  as  the  "  Walking 


202          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

Hills."  They  are  gray  and  barren  but  not 
lacking  in  picturesqueness,  for  many  strange 
and  fantastic  shapes  may  be  traced  in  their 
outlines. 

These  hills  are  constantly  changing  both 
shape  and  position,  and  that  is  the  reason  they 
have  received  the  name  of  Walking  Hills. 
East  of  these  hills  run  the  trains  of  the  South- 
ern Pacific  Railroad.  The  road  was  built  a 
little  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago, 
and  at  that  time  the  tracks  were  from  one 
fourth  of  a  mile  to  two  miles  west  of  the  hills. 
Now  the  latter  are  encroaching  upon  the  road 
and  threaten  to  bury  it  beneath  millions  of 
tons  of  sand. 

The  tracks  of  the  road  must  either  be  moved 
farther  east,  or  else  they  must  swing  in  to  the 
west  of  the  hills  to  escape  being  engulfed  by 
the  sandy  billows.  The  hills  are  composed  of 
fine  particles  of  sand  which  have  been  carried 
before  the  winds  which  sweep  a  hundred  miles 
across  a  level  and  barren  plain.  What  first 
caused  the  sand  to  pile  up  will  never  be  known, 
but  once  a  barrier  was  formed,  all  the  sand 
which  fled  before  the  winds  piled  up,  raising 
the  barrier  each  year.  The  winds,  which 
always  blow  from  the  west,  are  continually 
beating  against  the  base  of  the  hills,  lifting 


Desert  Miscellany  205 

the  sands  there,  sliding  them  up  the  sloping 
sides  and  dropping  them  over  the  other  side. 
Thus,  as  the  westward  slope  is  eaten  away,  the 
eastern  side  of  the  hills  is  added  to  and  they 
slowly  advance  toward  the  east. 

The  range  has  yet  an  open  field  many 
miles  before  it  comes  to  the  Colorado  River. 
When  the  hills  reach  that  point  they  will  dis- 
appear, for  the  waters  of  that  mighty  stream 
will  bear  the  shifting  sands  away  toward  the 
sea. 

In  the  southwestern  portion  of  the  desert, 
one  hundred  miles  across  the  plain  from  the 
Walking  Hills,  nature  has  dealt  in  geometrical 
figures  on  an  extensive  scale. 

The  plain,  at  this  point,  is  composed  of  clay- 
like  soil,  very  hard  and  firm,  unlike  that  of  the 
surrounding  desert,  which  is  loose  and  sandy. 
The  clay  section  is  smooth  as  macadam,  and  is 
level  save  for  the  geometrical  figures  which 
are  found  thereon  in  relief. 

From  beyond  the  clay-paved  section  the 
winds  have  brought  the  light,  loose  particles 
of  soil  and  have  piled  them  up  in  crescent- 
shaped  hills  at  various  places  about  the  plain. 
The  hills  vary  in  size  but  not  in  shape.  Each 
mound  is  as  true  a  crescent  as  is  the  new 
moon,  or  as  could  be  constructed  by  the  most 


206          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

skillful  landscape  gardener.  The  proportions 
are  carefully  preserved  in  the  various  mounds. 

The  horns  of  the  crescents  all  point  east- 
ward. The  winds  all  blow  from  the  west. 
Like  the  Walking  Hills,  they  travel  slowly 
across  the  plain,  preserving  their  shape  and 
proportions  but  growing  a  little  taller,  a  little 
broader,  and  a  little  thicker  as  they  go,  because 
of  the  new  material  which  is  continually  being 
brought  across  the  plain  by  the  constructive 
winds. 

There  is,  no  doubt,  some  good  and  sufficient 
natural  cause  for  this  peculiar  construction. 
Some  unalterable  law  of  nature  is  probably 
being  followed  in  the  shaping  of  these  sand- 
heaps,  but  thus  far  no  one  has  been  able  to 
offer  an  explanation  for  this  remarkable  freak 
of  the  winds. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

JOURNALISM  BELOW  SEA-LEVEL 

THE  printing-press  has  sought  many  strange 
corners  in  the  universe.  It  has,  in  these 
modern  times,  led  rather  than  followed  civil- 
ization. In  the  new  West  it  usually  is,  first 
the  printing-press,  then  the  town. 

One  of  the  most  peculiar  phases  of  journal- 
ism is  found  in  the  desert  region  of  California. 
There  are,  in  the  two  great  deserts  of  the 
State,  four  weekly  papers,  two  in  each  desert. 
In  the  Mojave  Desert  are  the  Randsburg 
Miner,  published  in  the  gold-mining  town  of 
Randsburg,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  desert, 
and  the  Needles  Eye,  issued  from  the  town  of 
Needles  on  the  eastern  confines  of  the  sandy 
waste. 

The  Needles  is  the  metropolis  of  the  upper 
desert  country,  and  the  Needles  Eye  is  the 
larger  of  the  two  papers  published  in  this 
desert.  The  town  has  a  peculiar  history, 
inasmuch  as  in  the  first  fifteen  years  of  its 

M 

209 


210          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

existence  it  stood  upon  borrowed  ground.  In 
size  the  township  is  one  and  a  half  times  as 
large  as  the  State  of  Vermont.  The  village  of 
Needles  is  about  eight  miles  west  of  the  Colo- 
rado River  on  the  line  of  the  Santa  Fe  Rail- 
road. The  main  part  of  the  village  is  situated 
upon  Section  29  of  the  township,  which  is  one 
of  the  sections  included  in  the  railway  grant  to 
the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Company.  The 
town  grew  naturally  about  the  station,  which 
was  established  at  the  time  of  the  building  of 
the  Santa  Fe  road,  and  little  thought  was 
given  to  titles  at  that  time. 

In  time  the  town  grew  to  the  dignity  of 
brick  blocks,  and  still  the  titles  remained  with 
the  railway  company.  Some  ineffectual  efforts 
were  made  on  one  or  two  occasions  to  secure 
titles  to  the  lands  from  the  railway  people,  but 
it  was  not  until  1903  that  a  deal  was  made 
whereby  the  townsmen,  in  consideration  of 
$43,000,  secured  deeds  to  the  lands  upon  which 
stand  their  homes  and  business  blocks. 

Needles  has  a  population  of  two  thousand 
souls.  It  is  a  mine  outfitting  town,  furnishing 
supplies  for  a  large  and  rich  gold-mining  dis- 
trict north  of  that  locality.  The  Needles  Eye, 
which  is  an  eight-page  journal,  is  a  wide-awake 
organ  owned,  printed,  and  edited  by  L.  V. 


Journalism  Below  Sea-Level      213 

Root,  a  native  of  Michigan,  but  a  resident  of 
the  Southwest  since  1892.  He  formerly  edited 
the  New  Mexico  Gleaner  and  is  familiar  with 
frontier  journalism.  His  paper  is  devoted  to 
the  local  interests  of  the  town  and  to  the 
mining  districts  of  that  region. 

Randsburg  is  a  typical  mining  town  with 
desert  accessories.  It  is  the  chief  town  of  the 
gold-mining  district  known  as  the  "  American 
Rand,"  and  has  but  one  rival  in  the  district, 
Johannesburg,  which  is  close  to  it  in  size  and 
importance,  but  which  has  not  yet  arrived  at 
the  dignity  of  a  newspaper. 

The  Miner  is  a  four-page  weekly  devoted 
to  the  news  of  the  mines  and  to  local  items. 
It  has  few  features  of  interest  outside  the 
locality  in  which  it  is  published. 

In  the  Colorado  Desert  journalism  attains 
an  unusual  degree  of  uniqueness.  Both  papers 
published  in  that  region  are  printed  below  the 
level  of  the  sea. 

The  Submarine  has  the  distinction  of  being 
the  first  paper  in  the  world  to  be  printed  be- 
low the  level  of  the  sea.  It  is  still  unique  in 
that  it  is  the  "  lowest  down  "  of  any  paper  in 
the  world.  In  order  to  hold  this  record  the 
editor  and  proprietor,  Randolph  R.  Freeman, 
was  obliged  to  move  to  a  new  locality  a  few 


214          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

months  after  establishing  his  paper  in  the 
desert. 

In  1900,  the  first  paper  to  be  printed  below 
sea-level  was  issued  by  Freeman  at  Indio,  a 
station  in  the  desert  on  the  line  of  the  South- 
ern Pacific  Railroad.  Indio  has  a  depression 
of  twenty-two  feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea. 

Later,  the  Imperial  irrigation  canal  was 
started  across  the  desert  from  the  Colorado 
River,  and  the  town  of  Imperial  had  its  birth. 
Then  the  Press  sprang  into  existence  and  was 
printed  in  an  office  situated  sixty-five  feet  be- 
low the  ocean's  level.  The  Submarine  thus 
lost  double  prestige,  for  it  was  no  longer  the 
only  paper  published  below  the  level  of  the  sea, 
neither  was  it  the  4<  most  low  down  newspaper 
on  earth,"  as  the  publisher  announced  in  his 
prospectus. 

The  editor,  in  informing  his  readers  of  his 
move,  did  so  in  the  following  language  : 

"  We  have  dropped  from  twenty-two  feet  below  sea- 
level  to  seventy-six  feet  below  sea-level.  We  hit  Coa- 
chella  with  a  dull  yet  raucous  thud.  The  low,  rumbling 
noise  you  heard  last  Tuesday  was  caused  by  our  printing- 
office  taking  the  drop.  It  may  be  truly  said  that  the 
Submarine  is  the  lowest  down,  or  the  lowdownest,  or  the 
most  low  down  newspaper  on  earth.  As  nearly  as  we 
can  compute  the  distance,  Hades  is  about  two  hundred 
and  twelve  feet  just  below  our  new  office.  The  paper 


Journalism  Below  Sea-Level      215 

will  continue  to  advocate  the  interests  of  all  the  country 
below  sea-level  and  we  want  you  to  fire  in  all  the  news 
you  know." 

The  Submarine  is  nothing  if  not  consistent. 
It  is  an  eight-page  weekly,  printed  upon  paper 
of  a  "  submarine  blue  "  tint.  Its  local  para- 
graphs are  run  under  the  caption  of  "Along 
the  Coral  Strand."  It  has  a  humorous  depart- 
ment conducted  by  "  McGinty,"  the  man  who 
fell  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  There  is  still 
another  department  entitled,  "  The  Undertow." 
The  editor  owns  a  span  of  fine  horses,  the 
names  of  which  are  "  Sub  "  and  "  Marine."  In 
fact  there  is  a  flavor  of  the  locality  in  every- 
thing connected  with  the  establishment. 

The  Imperial  Press,  owned,  edited,  and  pub- 
lished by  Edgar  F.  Howe,  is  conducted  strictly 
on  journalistic  principles.  The  paper  is  some- 
what larger  than  the  Submarine.  It  is  an 
eight-page  weekly  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
irrigation  and  of  reclamation  of  the  desert 
lands,  and  to  general  and  local  news. 

Howe  has  been  connected  with  various  Cali- 
fornia newspapers,  and  has  a  wide  reputation 
as  a  commercial  editor  and  an  oil  expert.  He 
confesses  that  the  Imperial  publishing  business 
has  introduced  him  to  decidedly  new  experi- 
ences. One  of  the  chief  difficulties  in  printing 


216          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

a  paper  in  so  torrid  a  region  is  that  it  fre- 
quently occurs  that  the  ink-rollers  melt  and 
the  paper  is  delayed  from  issuing  till  other 
rollers  can  be  obtained  from  Los  Angeles, 
nearly  three  hundred  miles  away.  Summer 
temperature  in  Imperial  ranges  from  100  to 
1 20  degrees  in  the  shade  and  from  20  to  30 
degrees  higher  in  the  sun.  A  double  set  of 
rollers  is  kept  on  hand  when  possible,  but  it 
frequently  happens  that  rollers  collapse  about 
as  fast  as  they  can  be  adjusted,  and  the  paper 
is  hung  up  till  a  new  lot  gets  in,  or  till  the 
weather  cools  off  a  bit. 

Howe  has  a  device  of  his  own  invention  for 
the  keeping  of  the  rollers  when  not  in  actual 
use.  It  is  a  cupboard  with  a  ventilator  in  the 
top  and  a  box  of  sawdust  in  the  bottom.  The 
rollers  are  set  in  a  rack  midway.  The  sawdust 
is  kept  wet,  and  the  rapid  evaporation  keeps 
the  cupboard  moderately  cool. 

In  one  feature  the  Press  and  Submarine  are 
peculiar.  Each  of  the  papers  has  a  circula- 
tion three  or  four  times  larger  than  the  entire 
population  of  the  towns  in  which  the  papers 
are  published.  Another  feature  not  common 
with  rural  publications  is  that  all  subscriptions 
are  paid  in  advance  and  in  cash.  There  are 
no  delinquent  subscribers,  for  the  paper  is 


Journalism  Below  Sea-Level      217 

stopped  when  the  subscription  expires.  Nei- 
ther are  subscriptions  payable  in  cordwood, 
for  that  is  a  commodity  unknown  to  desert 
towns. 

Twelve  miles  north  of  Imperial,  and  near 
the  end  of  the  Imperial  canal,  there  was  com- 
pleted, January  i,  1903,  a  single  board  build- 
ing twelve  by  sixteen  feet.  When  the  writer 
visited  the  place  in  the  following  June  he  found 
thirty-six  buildings  completed  and  others  in  the 
course  of  construction.  This  was  the  town  of 
Brawley,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  be- 
low sea-level.  One  of  the  first  objects  to 
greet  his  eye  was  a  printing  oufit,  the  presses, 
cases,  and  accoutrements  being  stacked  upon 
the  sands  beside  a  street  of  the  town  and  near 
a  tent  in  which  resided  the  owner  of  the  outfit. 
This  was  the  nucleus  of  a  new  newspaper,  to 
be  started  as  soon  as  a  building  could  be 
erected  for  its  occupancy.  This  paper  is 
destined  to  be  the  "  lowdownest,"  unless  one 
of  the  other  papers  moves  still  deeper  into  the 
great  sink.  It  is  among  the  possibilities  of 
the  future  to  have  a  paper  published  three 
hundred  feet  below  sea-level,  for  this  depres- 
sion may  be  reached  in  the  center  of  the  basin 
known  as  the  "  Salton  Sink." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  END  OF  THE  DESERT 

HTHERE  must  be,  we  are  told,  an  end  to 
everything,  and  the  beginning  of  the  end 
of  the  desert  is  at  hand.  Already  two  hun- 
dred thousand  acres  of  the  great  Colorado 
Desert  has  been  taken  from  it  and  placed 
with  the  productive  acreage  of  the  State. 

This  is  but  a  fraction,  to  be  sure,  of  the  vast 
amount  of  arid  land  in  the  State  and  but  about 
one  five-hundredth  part  of  the  arid  area  in  the 
United  States,  but  it  is  a  beginning,  and  when 
it  is  considered  that  it  is  the  work  of  only  two 
years  it  will  be  conceded  that  it  is  a  marvelous 
beginning. 

Irrigation,  to  be  sure,  is  not  new  to  the 
Western  country,  but  reclamation  on  a  gigan- 
tic scale  is  new.  Farming  was  carried  on  by 
irrigation  in  the  West  before  the  first  white 
man  visited  this  continent.  In  Arizona  and 
New  Mexico  are  to  be  traced  to-day  vast  irri- 
gation canals  and  reservoirs  used  by  a  race  that 
had  been  forgotten  when  the  first  white  man 

218 


The  End  of  the  Desert  221 

visited  the  region.  Some  of  these  ancient 
canals  are  now  being  used  by  both  Indians 
and  white  men  in  those  Territories. 

The  national  irrigation  idea  had  its  birth  in 
Los  Angeles  in  1890,  when  the  business  men 
of  that  city  met  and  opened  a  campaign  for 
securing  a  Government  system.  Nearly  six 
thousand  letters  were  written  and  mailed  to 
representative  men  of  the  country  with  the  re- 
sult that  the  idea  took  root  and  national  irriga- 
tion became  an  accomplished  fact. 

Before  the  Government  passed  laws  whereby 
irrigation  became  a  national  charge,  private 
enterprise  had  taken  hold  of  the  matter,  and 
the  Imperial  canal  had  been  started  out  into 
the  Colorado  Desert.  This  canal  has  had 
marvelous  development,  and  two  years  from 
the  time  work  was  begun  upon  it  more  lands 
had  been  reclaimed  than  by  any  other  single 
irrigation  system  in  the  world. 

The  work  of  reclaiming  the  Colorado  Desert 
was  begun  in  1900.  Not  far  from  the  Mexican 
line,  at  Hanlon's  Crossing,  the  river  left  a  con- 
venient place  for  the  headworks  of  the  great 
canal.  Here  is  where  the  river  was  tapped. 
About  a  mile  from  the  headworks  the  river, 
which  in  the  bygone  ages  laid  down  the  sixty- 
mile  barrier  between  the  gulf  and  the  desert, 


222          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

also  left  a  channel  whereby  to  aid  in  reclaim- 
ing" the  desert.  The  first  ten  miles  of  this 
natural  channel  required  some  deepening,  and 
then  for  some  sixty  miles  across  the  Mexican 
border  and  back  to  the  international  line  the 
canal  was  ready-made. 

From  the  point  where  the  canal  leaves  the 
Colorado  to  where  it  returns  to  the  interna- 
tional line,  after  circling  through  Mexican  ter- 
ritory, there  is  a  fall  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
feet,  less  than  two  feet  to  the  mile.  This, 
however,  is  sufficient  for  the  purposes  of 
irrigation. 

One  of  the  first  questions  to  be  settled, 
when  the  project  for  leading  the  river  out  into 
the  desert  was  considered,  was  the  character 
of  the  water.  Not  all  water  found  in  the  arid 
regions  is  good  for  irrigation.  Much  of  it  is 
so  impregnated  with  alkali  as  to  be  injurious 
rather  than  helpful  to  the  soil. 

The  University  of  Arizona  made  daily  analy- 
sis of  the  waters  of  the  river  for  a  period  of 
seventeen  months.  This  analysis  showed  that 
the  waters  contained  no  injurious  substances, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  much  that  is  nutritive  to 
the  soil. 

The  waters  of  the  Colorado  carry  in  suspen- 
sion one-fourth  of  one  per  cent,  of  solid  matter. 


The  End  of  the  Desert  225 

The  color  of  the  water  is  about  like  that  of 
lemonade.  The  analysis  shows  that  this  mat- 
ter in  suspension  is  composed  of  clay,  lime, 
phosphoric  acid,  available  potash,  and  nitro- 
gen. The  fertilizing  value  of  these  substances 
is  about  25  cents  per  acre-inch  of  water.  As 
from  twenty-four  inches  to  thirty-six  inches  of 
water  are  used  in  the  course  of  the  year  for 
each  acre  irrigated,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  fer- 
tilizing value  of  the  water  is  from  $6  to  $9  per 
acre  per  year.  This  means  that  the  land  will 
never  wear  out  but  will  produce  abundant  crops 
so  long  as  worked  and  irrigated. 

Another  question  which  came  up  for  settle- 
ment was  the  permanence  of  the  water-supply. 
The  answer  to  this  was  equally  satisfactory. 
The  mean  flow  of  the  river  is  found  to  be 
forty  thousand  cubic  feet  per  second,  an  amount 
of  water  ample  to  irrigate  territory  eight  times 
as  large  as  the  Colorado  Desert.  Bancroft  Library 

The  volume  of  water  in  the  lower  Colorado 
River  is  greater  in  the  summer,  or  dry  season, 
than  in  the  winter,  or  rainy  season.  This  is 
because  the  river  has  its  source  in  the  great 
mountainous  region  in  the  north,  where  the 
melting  snows  on  the  mountain-tops  during 
the  summer  season  furnish  large  quantities  of 
water  to  the  streams  which  make  up  the  river. 
15 


226          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

This  brings  the  greatest  amount  of  water  at 
the  season  of  the  year  when  the  farmers  use 
the  most,  a  condition  most  satisfactory  to  the 
projectors  of  the  irrigation  system. 

The  main  canal,  which  was  begun  in  1900,  at 
the  beginning  of  1903  had  grown  to  be  one 
hundred  miles  long.  This  canal  is  seventy 
feet  wide  and  eight  feet  deep,  and  supplies 
more  than  three  hundred  miles  of  lateral  canals 
with  water.  The  first  season  that  water  was 
turned  into  the  canal,  six  thousand  five  hun- 
dred acres  of  crops  were  raised  where  for  ages 
had  been  nothing  but  barren  desert  lands. 
The  second  season  forty  thousand  acres  were 
raised,  and  at  the  end  of  the  season  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  thousand  acres  of  land 
had  been  broken  ready  for  seeding. 

The  great  sandy  wastes  have  given  way  to 
green  fields  of  waving  grain,  verdant  seas  of 
billowy  maize  and  millet,  broad  meadows  of 
rich  green  alfalfa,  and  wide  pastures  where 
thousands  of  cattle  dot  the  plain.  In  addition 
to  this,  new  cities  are  springing  up  where  deso- 
lation so  recently  reigned,  and  a  railroad  has 
crept  down  toward  the  Mexican  line,  and  is 
destined  to  go  on  to  the  line  and  over,  even 
to  the  great  gulf  which  ages  ago  retreated  from 
the  land  now  being  turned  into  a  paradise. 


The  End  of  the  Desert  229 

One  of  the  first  towns  a  man  hears  of  now, 
when  he  enters  the  desert  region,  is  Calexico, 
the  most  remote  of  the  settlements  in  the  des- 
ert north  of  the  Mexican  line.  It  is  noted  for 
two  things,  both  of  which  have  to  do  with  the 
hotel,  one  of  the  half-dozen  buildings  which  com- 
pose the  town.  When  the  visitor  steps  from  the 
train  at  Old  Beach,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  des- 
ert, he  is  apt  to  be  greeted  with  this  question  : 

"  Going  down  to  Calexico  ? 

"  Waal,  ye  '11  git  the  best  meal  there  of  any 
place  in  the  desert,  an'  they  've  got  a  shower- 
bath  at  the  hotel  there,  too,"  is  the  information 
vouchsafed  when  the  visitor  announces  Cal- 
exico as  his  destination. 

These  are  the  things  which  have  given  Cal- 
exico fame.  It  was  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening 
when  the  writer  and  his  party  arrived  at  Cal- 
exico in  June,  1903,  after  a  two-days  drive 
across  the  dusty,  burning  plain. 

"  This  way,"  said  the  landlord  who  answered 
our  hail,  showing  us  into  a  side  room  in  the 
adobe  structure.  "  Drop  your  luggage  here. 
You  can  wash  over  there.  And  right  in  here," 
said  he,  proudly  pointing  the  way,  "  is  a  shower- 
bath.  Help  yourselves." 

A  shower-bath  in  the  very  heart  of  the  des- 
ert !  It  is  no  wonder  the  landlord  is  proud  of 


230          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

it,  for  there  is  not  another  within  two  hundred 
miles. 

Calexico  is  a  town  with  a  future, — like  most 
of  the  desert  towns, — in  fact,  it  is  nearly  all 
future  as  yet.  It  has  streets  and  public  squares, 
but  it  lacks  the  buildings.  They  will  follow, 
however,  for  the  railroad  is  coming,  and  a  rich 
farming  region  will  center  there.  The  town  is 
laid  out  beside  the  irrigation  canal  which  there 
forms  a  portion  of  the  international  boundary. 

Over  this  ditch,  in  Mexico,  is  the  embryo 
town  of  Mexicala,  which  consists  of  a  single 
row  of  thatched  huts  and  adobes  strung  along 
beside  the  canal.  Nearly  every  building  is  a 
saloon  or  gambling  den,  or  both.  The  town 
boasts  of  a  population  of  three  hundred  souls, 
with  but  a  single  white  man. 

None  of  the  towns  in  the  Imperial  country 
on  this  side  of  the  line  sell  intoxicating  liquors. 
This  makes  Mexicala  the  Mecca  for  the  "  spir- 
ituously  "  inclined.  The  liquor  obtainable  there 
is  of  a  brand  known  as  mescal,  and  there  is 
murder  in  every  glass.  In  proof  of  this  asser- 
tion, just  before  we  arrived  there  a  Mexican 
took  four  drinks  and  then  shot  four  persons. 

Silsbee,  twelve  miles  north  of  Calexico,  is  a 
very  young  city.  There  are  three  or  four  tents 
among  the  mesquites  which  border  Blue  Lake, 


The  End  of  the  Desert  233 

and  there  is  a  general  store,  post-office,  and 
dwelling  combined.  The  building,  as  well  as 
the  business  thereof,  is  composite.  It  is  made 
partly  of  boards,  partly  of  tent  cloth,  and  partly 
of  poles,  thatched  with  greasewood  boughs. 
The  proprietor  of  the  establishment,  Dan 
Browning,  is  a  red-faced  frontiersman  who  has 
faith  in  the  future  of  his  city,  and  he  is  in  on  the 
ground  floor.  He  will  point  out  to  the  visitor 
"Main  Street,"  " the  park,"  "the  hotel  site," 
and  other  attractions,  and  he  sees  them  all 
in  his  mind's  eye.  To  the  visitor,  however, 
all  these  metropolitan  wonders  appear  to  be 
simply  desert. 

Imperial  has  the  one  church  of  the  desert.  It 
is  a  small  wooden  structure — the  first  wooden 
building  in  the  valley  —  which  is  whitewashed 
on  the  outside.  Imperial  is  ancient.  It  has 
two  years  the  start  of  its  sister  towns  and  it 
looks  down  upon  them  with  disdain.  Some  of 
the  infant  cities  have  designs  upon  their  big 
sister,  however,  and  they  mean  to  outstrip  her 
in  the  near  future.  Brawley  is  one  of  these 
ambitious  towns.  Heber  is  another  and  Hoi- 
ten  is  still  another. 

Plans  have  been  perfected  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  grand  boulevard  which  will  pass  from 
the  northern  limit  of  the  Imperial  canal  system 


234          The  Mystic  Mid-Region 

to  the  international  line  at  Calexico.  This 
street  will  be  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  State 
when  completed.  It  is  to  be  one  hundred  feet 
wide  and  thirty-five  miles  long,  and  will  be  so 
level  that  it  cannot  be  determined  with  the  eye 
which  way  the  street  inclines. 

Along  either  side  of  the  way  and  down 
through  the  center  of  the  thoroughfare  will 
be  rows  of  trees  to  shut  off  from  the  street 
the  glare  of  the  desert  sun.  Also  on  either 
side  will  be  small  canals  of  running  water  which 
will  serve,  not  only  to  irrigate  the  trees  but 
will  be  utilized  to  lay  the  dust  of  the  street. 
When  completed  it  will  require  but  two  men 
to  keep  the  entire  street  in  order. 

With  this  glimpse  of  the  work  of  reclama- 
tion which  is  taking  place  in  the  desert  thus 
afforded  the  reader,  I  will  drop  the  subject 
and  bring  the  final  chapter  to  an  end.  The 
death  of  the  desert  will  be  a  beautiful  one. 
There  will  be  no  lack  of  flowers  to  lay  upon 
its  bier.  Its  grimness  and  fierceness  and  ter- 
rors will  have  given  place  to  peace,  plenty, 
and  prosperity.  The  region  of  death  will  be 
transformed  into  a  kingdom  of  life. 


INDEX 


Alkali,  i,  18 

Allenrolpea  occidentalis •,  49 

Andesite,  157 

Arizona  candle,  41 

Arsenic  spring,  37 

Asbestos,  157 

Ash  Meadows,  175 

Banning,  9 

Baryta,  157 

Basket-making,  92—104 

Birds,  66,  67 

Bitter  sage,  i 

Black  Buttes,  199,  200 

Black  Lake,  186 

Black  Rock  Desert,  2 

Borax,  i,  142-153,  178 

Brawley,  217,  233 

Breccia,  157 

Bull  snake,  61 

Burial  customs,  75,  80-91 

Burro,  107-123 

Cactus  blossoms,  53 

Cactus,  grape,  53 

Cactus  rat,  63 

Calexico,  229 

Camels,  107,  108,  in,  178 

Centipede,  65 

Cereus  giganteus,  41 

Chaparral,  38 

Chemehuevi  Indians,  76 

Chlorogalum  pomeridianum,   50 

Cinnabar,  178 

Clistoyucca  arborescens,  38 

Coachella  Valley,  165 

Cocopah  Indians,  72,  75,  190 


Colorado  Desert,  i,  2,  5,  6,  9, 
61,  71,  161-169,  2I3»  218- 
234 

Colorado  Desert,  how  formed,  10 

Colorado  River,  9,  76,  205,  218- 
234 

Copper,  157-159 

Coyote,  66 

Creosote  bush,  57 

Crescent  Hills,  206 

Crotalus  cerastes,  60 

Daggett,  157 

Death  Valley,  5,  6,  68,  103,  142, 
146,  149,  150,  172-183 

Desert  journalism,  209-217 

Deserts,  Black  Rock,  2  ;  Colo- 
rado, i,  2,  5,  6,  9,  61,  71,  161 
-169,  213,  218-234 ;  Great 
American,  i,  2  ;  Mojave,  2, 
5,  6,  80,  84,  87, 108, 116, 140, 
209  ;  Nevada,  2  ;  Painted, 
2  ;  Smoke  Creek,  2 

Deserts,  extent  and  origin,  10 

Devil's  Chair,  175 

Early  navigators,  13 
Earthquakes,  186,  187 
Ephydra  Californica,  68 

Funeral  Mountains,  175 
Furnace  Creek,  175 

Gila  Monster,  I,  61,  62,  63,  65 

Gila  River,  10 

Gold,  131,  140 

Gold  districts,  131,  139,  154,  156 

Gold  Mine,  Pegleg,  193 


235 


236 


Index 


Grand  Canon,  9 
Greasewood,  38,  49 
Great  American  Desert,  I,  2 
Gulf  of  California,  9 
Gypsum,  157 

Hanlon's  Crossing,  222 
Heber,  233 

Heloderina  horridum,  61 
Hematite,  178 
Holton,  233 
Hopi  Indians,  100,  103 
Horned  toad,  62 
Human  bones,  30,  34 

Imperial,  217-233 
Imperial  Canal,  217-234 
Imperial  Press,  209-217 
Indio,  166 
Iron,  157 
Irrigation,  218-234 

Jasper,  158 
Journalism,  209-217 

Koochabee,  68 

Lake  Juala,  186 
Lead,  157 
Lithia,  159 

Maguey,  54 

Manganese,  157 

Map  ancient  California,  14,  15 

Marble,  157,  158 

McPherson,  John  F.,  desert  ex- 
periences, 22—29 

Mescal,  54 

Mesquite,  38 

Mexacala,  230 

Mirage,  6 

Mojave  Desert,  2,  5,  6,  80,  84, 
87,  108,  116,  140,  209 

Mt.  Gray  back,  9 

Mt.  San  Jacinto,  9 

Needles,  209-217 
Needle's  Eye,  209-217 
Nevada  Desert,  2 


Niter,    I,  146 
Nopal.  53 

Oases,  2 
Old  Beach,  229 
Ollas,  195,  196 
Onyx,  157 
Owen's  Lake,  68 

Padre  Junipero  Serra,  83 

Painted  Desert,  2 

Palo-verde,  38 

Panamint  Indians,  68,  71,  103 

Pectis,  57 

Pegleg  Gold  Mine,  193,  194 

Phantom  ship,  199 

Phrynosoma,  62 

Pilot  Knob,  201 

Porno  Indians,  95 

Prickly  pear,  50 

Prospector,  127-141 

Randsburg,  209 
Randsburg  Miner,  209-217 
Rattlesnake,  I,  60,  61 
Rhyolite,  157 

Sage,  38 

Sahuaro,  49 

Salt,  161-169,  178 

Salton,  6,  161-169 

Saratoga  Springs,  176 

Scorpion,  65,  66 

Serra,  Padre  Junipero,  83 

Side-winder,  60 

Signal  Mountain,  201 

Silsbee,  230 

Silver,  158 

Smoke  Creek  Desert,  2 

Snakeweed,  54 

Soap  plant,  50 

Soda,  146,  176 

Spanish  bayonet,  45 

Submarine,  209-217 

Sulphur,  157,  178 

Sutuma,  83-91 

Tarantula,  r,  64 
Temperature,  22,   140 


Index 


237 


Thirst,  tortures  of,  18,  180 

Tin,  157 

Tortoise,  64,  65 

Tourmaline,  159 

Tufa,  157 

Tuna,  53 

Turquoise,  76 

Volcanoes,  6,  71,  184-188 


Walking  Hills,  202,  206 
Water,  17-37 
Water  wells,  30,  33 
Well  of  the  desert,  53 

Yucca,  38,  45,  49 
Yuma  Indians,  75 

Zinc,  157 


Old  Paths  and  Legends 
of  New  England  :  :  :  : 

l¥ith  many  Ilhtstrations  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  Old  Colony,  Rhode  Island, 
and  the  Providence  Plantations,  and  the 
Fresh  River  of  the  Connecticut  Valley 

By  KATHERINE  M.  ABBOTT 

8°,  very  fully  illustrated,  net,  $3.50.     (By  mail,  $3.75.) 

THE  idea  for  this  book  grew  out  of  the  fact  that 
Miss  Abbott's  little  paper-bound  Trolley  Trips, 
describing  the  old  New  England  neighborhoods 
that  may  now  be  reached  by  the  trolley,  have  met  with 
an  astonishingly  wide  demand.  In  this  more  pretentious 
work  Miss  Abbott  has  utilized  her  fund  of  material  to 
draw  a  delightful  picture  of  the  quaint  byways  of  New 
England.  But  in  this  case  her  wanderings  are  not  lim- 
ited by  gaps  in  the  trolley  circuit,  or  by  daylight  or  car- 
fares. Historic  spots  of  national  interest,  curious  or 
charming  out-of-the-way  places,  Indian  legends  and 
Yankee  folk-lore  find  full  justice  in  Miss  Abbott's  enter- 
taining pages.  Fiction  could  never  interpret  New 
England  so  honestly  as  does  this  volume. 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S   SONS 

New  York  London 


TKe  Romance  of  tKe 
Colorado  River 

A  Complete  Account  of  the  Discovery  and  of  the  Explor- 
ations from  1540  to  the  Present  Time,  with  Particular 
Reference  to  the  two  Voyages  of  Powell  through  the  line 
of  the  Great  Canyons. 

By  Frederick  S.  Dellenbaugh,  Member  of  the  U.  S.  Colo- 
rado River  Expedition  of  1871  and  1872,  author  of  "  North 
Americans  of  Yesterday,"  etc.  8°.  Fully  illustrated. 
$3.50  net.  By  mail,  $3.75. 

Ever  since  the  day  of  its  discovery  by  Alar9on  in  1540,  the  Colo- 
rado River  of  the  West  has  been  of  romantic  interest.  Bound  in  for 
more  than  one  thousand  miles  of  its  course  in  the  stupendous 
canyon  which  was  and  always  will  be  one  of  the  wonders  of  the 
natural  world,  it  defied  for  centuries  full  exploration.  The  first 
descent  of  Major  Powell  through  its  magnificent  gorges,  in  1869,  and 
his  second  in  1871-72,  giving  to  the  world  a  complete  knowledge  of 
the  unknown  river,  form  together  one  of  the  most  interesting  pages 
of  our  history.  The  volume  is  well  illustrated  by  photographs, 
taken  on  the  expedition,  by  new  maps,  and  by  drawings  made  by 
the  author  and  by  others. 

TKe  Hudson  River  from 
Ocean  to  Source 

Historical  —  Legendary — Picturesque.  By  Edgar  Mayhew 
Bacon,  author  of  "Chronicles  of  Tarrytown,"  etc.  8°. 
With  over  100  illustrations.  Net  $4.50.  (By  mail,  $4.80.) 

No  stream  in  America  is  so  rich  in  legends  and  historic  associa- 
tions as  the  Hudson.  From  ocean  to  source  every  mile  of  it  is 
crowded  with  the  reminders  of  the  early  explorers,  of  the  Indian 
wars,  of  the  struggle  of  the  colonies,  and  of  the  quaint,  peaceful 
village  existence  along  its  banks  in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic. 
Before  the  explorers  came,  the  river  figured  to  a  great  extent  in  the 
legendary  history  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  East.  Mr.  Bacon  is 
well  equipped  for  the  undertaking  of  a  book  of  this  sort,  and  the 
story  he  tells  is  of  national  interest.  The  volume  is  illustrated  with 
views  taken  especially  for  this  work  and  with  many  rare  old  prints 
now  first  published  in  book  form. 

NewYork—Gr.  P.  Putnam's    Sons  — London 


